We may live in a world where remakes of popular movies and properties are an ever-present phenomenon, but it’s not every day we see a remake of a film from the same person who made the original.
Nevertheless, that’s exactly what we’ll be seeing from celebrated Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo, who penned the script and helmed the director’s chair for his 1981 film The Killer, and will be doing so again with the upcoming remake of the same name.
The original film starred Chow Yun-fat as assassin Ah Jong, who accidentally injures a singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) during one of his missions. Wracked with guilt, Ah decides to take on one last mission in order to pay for Jennie’s surgery, lest she become permanently blind.
In an interview with Deadline, Woo revealed that he’d be taking up directorial duties once again for the remake, and also remarked that there will be a distinct deviation from the original film, most notably rewriting the lead as a woman.
“We originally tried to hire another director to shoot it, but couldn’t find anyone, so I took on the job. We maybe shouldn’t call this The Killer, because we’re making a very different version, as the lead character [an assassin played by Chow Yun-fat in the original] will be played by a woman. We’re doing the casting now. We were talking to Lupita Nyong’o but she had to pass so we’re looking for somebody else.”
He would go on to explain the thematic differences that this new film would introduce as well.
“The story is similar to The Killer, but we can say it’s more of a story about friendship than a love story.”
The remake of John Woo’s The Killer is set to release in 2023 exclusively to Peacock.
Published: Jul 18, 2022 01:11 pm