Oldboy (2013)

[MacGuffin]

Josh Brolin Says Spike Lee's 'Oldboy' Remake Will Keep Hammer Fight & Octopus-Eating; Has Blessing From Park Chan-Wook
Source: Playlist

So many actors and actresses have been linked with Spike Lee's "Oldboy" remake that we have trouble recalling which ones actually scored the roles but things look to be settling down with "District 9" star Sharlto Copley joining Josh Brolin, taking the villain role last week, while Elizabeth Olsen is eyeing the female lead. From early in its conception, the project has been noted as drawing more from the graphic novel source rather than being a direct remake of Park Chan-wook's film but the biggest question has always been where and how Mark Protosevich's script differs.

Speaking with SlashFilm for "Men In Black III," Brolin has taken the opportunity to clear up a few points noting, when asked about the possible changes, that, "Yes [we'll keep the hammer fight]. And it's a hammer and knife and all that stuff. And then will we keep the octopus, will we keep the other stuff? There's some changes but I think it's really good. It still makes me throw down the script half way through. Whoa."

The hammer fight has gained quite a bit of notoriety since the release of Park's film namely for it's scrolling video game-esque take depicting protagonist Oh Dae-su brutally fighting through a hallway of dudes looking to take him out. But as producer Roy Lee said last fall, Spike will be making his own imprint on it. "There's a sort of different interpretation of that hallway scene that is going to hopefully be Spike's signature moment in the movie that we want to show in a way that we've never seen done in an action movie," Lee said.

However, Brolin also added that he has, in fact, requested and earned the approval of the original's helmer for Lee's remake. "I love 'Oldboy' and I'm close with Chan-wook Park and I emailed him a couple months ago, just asking for his blessing to do this movie because if he had said 'No,' I wouldnt have done it. But I really respect his movie and we'll make a little different movie and this whole idea of a more Hollywood version of it? Whatever. We're just going to make a different version but have respect to the initial story and premise. I'm looking forward to it, man. I'm talking about it nervously right now because it makes me nervous."

Brolin, Lee, Copley (and potentially Olsen) are certainly an exciting team and we're keen to see where things go -- and just what these "new elements, new characters and new situations" are. Lensing begins in October.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I fail to see how Spike Lee is qualified to make this.

[Reel]

I will fail to see this movie

[squints]

[polkablues]

...the fuck?

[Pubrick]

sigh..

spike lee is .. YOU KNOW.

[Robyn]

is he sliding down a hill?

[jenkins]

the name that generates my enthusiasm --

Cinematography by
Sean Bobbitt

i expect that appreciation to be as unanimous as the spike lee appreciation (i don't expect it). we're talking about the guy who shot

wonderland, in his beginning, for winterbottom
hunger and shame, for mcqueen
xixax's #1 award winning movie the place beyond the pines
this oldboy remake
the new steve mcqueen, 12 years a slave

not sure if it's rational to have high hopes for this remake, because it's a remake, and because it's written by mark protosevich (the cell, poseidon, co-wrote i am legend, and wrote a movie he's now directing called freakshow and about "Five teenagers who were turned into mutants by a chemical explosion are asked to save their city after the world's only superhero is killed"), and directed by spike lee

i still like how bobbitt points his cameras. imdb tells me he's also signed up as dp for michael cuesta's new movie (and he shot neil jordan's byzantium), and cuesta might come back to glory. maybe he'll forget he made the movie roadie, and remember he made the movie l.i.e.

the overall team plan here seems flawed

[Kellen]

men in black climbing out of a toy chest 

[Lottery]

Brolin looks like the dude from Prison break there, with a jawbone made from a banana.

[MacGuffin]

Red Band Trailer

[03]

what a damn shame..

[Pubrick]

Fucking LOL at 44 seconds where he tries to kill himself after Bill Clinton becomes president.

The poster seems to have perfectly captured the head-scratching what-the-fuckness of this.

I.. I just don't even...

[Robyn]

This seems to be everything that's wrong with remakes. If you're doing a remake you should at least try to put your own ideas into it. The hammer scene looks exactly like the scene in the original, which is a great scene but you can't just rip it of completely.The imagery throughout the trailer looks exactly like the original, and it even looks like they shoot some of the scenes on the same locations. Didn't they say that this wasn't a remake but an adaption of the comic book? That was clearly bullshit.

Solaris is an good example of a remake made right. They didn't even remake the most memorable scene from the original because they knew that it would be totally worthless in comparison. They tried something different and the result was great. Soderbergh knew better and Spike Lee should also know better.

EDIT: Oh, okay... so I just watched the trailer again and realized that I don't remember everything from the original, but still... the hammer scene. That's not okay.

[squints]

*spoiler for original*



Looks like the incest is missing.