Spike Lee is reported to be in talks to direct an English-language remake of Park Chan-Wook’s Korean revenge film Oldboy.
The project has been bouncing around Hollywood for a while. At one point Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were attached to it, but a problem with the rights to remake the film killed off their participation. Mandate Pictures, the folks trying to mount the project, have continued to plow ahead and last fall it was reported that scripter Mark Protosevich was working on a new draft of a screenplay.
Based on a Japanse manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, Par Chan-Wook’s film tells the story of a man who is mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years and upon his release is forced to unravel the reasons behind his imprisonment.
Lee hasn’t directed a feature film since 2008’s Miracle At St. Ana, a film that I liked, but certainly didn’t rival the director’s best and far more personal work. Lee is at his best with more character-driven stories and that certainly describes Oldboy. Some folks might be scratching their head at him being offered the job, but it does make sense to me.
