| SPIELBERG/SMITH TO REMAKE OLD BOY (195 views) | AUTHOR /
DATE |
| Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are in early discussions to collaborate on a remake of Chan Wook-park's "Oldboy." DreamWorks is in the process of securing the remake rights, and the new pic will be distributed by Universal.
In the 2003 Korean original, a man gets kidnapped and held in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, he's released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge.
Spielberg had been looking for an opportunity to make a film with Smith, who would play the kidnapped man if all the pieces fall into place. Spielberg is looking for a writer to begin the development process.
The film was originally set at U and then found its way to Mandate. | City On Fire
11/7/2008 3:33 AM |
| #2 | Someone needs to stop Will Smith. That guy is bloody atrocious. I've not seen him in anything I'd consider vaguely entertaining since Independence Day. And Spielberg will re-shoot the hammer fight scene with a CGI hammer and digital teeth flying. UGH. And you can guarantee they'll change the ending. The original ending is not very Hollywood friendly. | TheDenizen
11/7/2008 9:56 AM |
| #3 | I think it'll be important to see the remake as a totally separate film, otherwise it'll have zero chance of appealing to fans of the original.
I've enjoyed Will Smith overall over the course of his career. He doesn't blow my mind very often (I loved him in "Six Degrees Of Separation", and in "I Am Legend"), but I think he's definitely competent and has a very good range.
Spielberg, for me, is the one who needs to be stopped. That guy needs to go back to his roots, those bad-ass flix he was making when he was a kid, like "Jaws" and "Duel"... Someone needs to take his damn computers away and force him to make a simple, badass, tightly-budgeted film again. | Choco
11/7/2008 12:20 PM |
| #4 | You're right, Choco, comparing the two films will be a fruitless exercise. If I had watched The Departed comparing it to Infernal Affairs the whole way I would've been disappointed. Watching the film on it's own merit, The Departed was actually quite good.
I'm still not a fan of Smith, but here's hoping they at least make a decent film that's true to the spirit of the original. | TheDenizen
11/7/2008 12:57 PM |
| #5 | Sorry, didn't see someone had already posted it. COF, add me to your faves so you can send me an invite when you post, please.
Will Smith could be alright, I'm just not sure if he's able to be a nondescript regular guy for the first part of the film. Will he be able to make the 'transformation' successfully. He's almost got too much presence on screen for the first part of the movie.
It's hard to separate it out as its own film when the original is pretty much playing on a loop in my head 24-7, along with several other classics. I just hope that Spielberg doesn't try and 'homage' the side-scrolling, single-take, fight sequence. Leave that one alone. That one is sacred. | Garvinstomp
11/8/2008 5:22 PM |
| #6 | No prob. Added. =) | City On Fire
11/9/2008 4:20 PM |
| #7 | Oh, i forgot to add: Better Will Smith than Nicolas Cage. And, better Steven Spielberg than Paul Thomas Anderson. | City On Fire
11/9/2008 4:22 PM |
| #8 | Actually Nicolas Cage might be a bit more interesting than Will Smith in this role...but yeah, he could just as well be intolerable... :) | Choco
11/9/2008 7:44 PM |
| #9 | Come to think of it, you have a point. Maybe Will Smith should have done Bangkok Dangerous, and Nic do Old Boy... better idea: let's just stick to the original films of each! | City On Fire
11/9/2008 11:19 PM |
| #10 | It both amuses and annoys me to no end that so many people are too daft to read subtitles. The original films won't be bettered, they'll be unavoidably altered and hence diminished. | TheDenizen
11/11/2008 3:43 PM |
| #11 | It's more than subtitles, though that's definitely an issue (that amuses and annoyes me, too). It's just a cultural difference. To us, that's a bonus. But to many people it's just a divide they're not interested in bridging. | Choco
11/11/2008 4:24 PM |
| #12 | I, personally, do not like subtitles. The reason being is because I just returned to LA and found that my bedroom TV has begun to stretch the image of the screen so much that I am unable to see any subtitles (it is so stretched that a 2.35x1 image fills the entire 4x3 screen). Sure, I've wanted an excuse to upgrade to a 16x9 Plasma or LCD in there, but this is simply annoying because I just received my copy of Chaser, hand carried it on the plane so it wouldn't ship with my other DVD's and arrive in a week or so. I was all tucked in after a long day of re-routing my car around Prop 8 protests only to be foiled by my inability to understand Korean.
If I look hard enough I can sometimes make out the very top of the subtitles and can try and guess what they say. Oh well, off to Best Buy tomorrow to get a replacement.
Not that this is all that relevant to the topic at hand. But I've hear so many good things about Chaser I was really looking forward to it. | Garvinstomp
11/13/2008 3:07 AM |
| #13 | That's not a subtitle problem, bro, that's a TV problem! You need to letterbox that ass! :) | Choco
11/13/2008 8:51 AM |
| #14 | Someone needs a 16x9 TV. :D | TheDenizen
11/13/2008 10:32 AM |
| #15 | Can I get an amen!? | Choco
11/13/2008 11:09 AM |
| #16 | *sings praise to the glory of Widescreen* | TheDenizen
11/13/2008 1:13 PM |
| #17 | Hallelujah! Brother Garvinstomp has been saved-ah! | Choco
11/13/2008 1:51 PM |
| #18 | Had a hella long day working and a few more ahead, so the TV may be a few days off. Looks like I'll be out sunday with the rest of the TV shopping crowd.
I know it's not technically a subtitle problem, but if they were speaking english I could watch their overly elongated forms on my TV. But it's all good. I may just watch it on the laptop tonight or tomorrow. Plus I got Black Belt coming to me as well. Ugh, this problem needs to resolve itself fully. But yes, within 3 days I'll be in the 16x9 crowd. Somewhere over the 42" threshold. Ah, the joys of being single. Just a quick conversation with myself "Hmm, I think I need a new TV. Should I get one? Yes, I should". And done. | Garvinstomp
11/14/2008 1:30 AM |
