While Spike Lee is hard at work on remaking Oldboy, a fantastic Korean film from Park Chan-wook, William Monahan is all set to remake another one of the director’s films, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The final entry in the Vengeance Trilogy, which started with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and continued with Oldboy, is a violent film that tells the story of a woman “who serves the full prison sentence for a crime she never committed, only to finally be released and set out on a path of vengeance.”
Having seen the original, I can say that it’s an excellent film and one that I’m looking forward to seeing be remade. Admittedly, Oldboy is a better movie and tells a more compelling story but Sympathy for Lady Vengenace is still a strong effort from the director and a nice concluding piece to the Vengeance trilogy.
With that in mind, we finally have some news on who will play the lead role as Collider reports that Charlize Theron has signed on. The actress has been trying to get the film off the ground for a few years now and she’ll be producing along with CJ Entertainment.
The Annapurna Pictures press release mentions that Monahan will be “adapting” the original, meaning he could be taking on the role of both director and writer, or writer only. At this time, it’s unclear. Either way, he’ll likely do justice to Park Chan-wook’s original and I feel assured knowing that the remake is in capable hands.
Both this and the Oldboy remake look like they will turn out to be worthy adaptations of great films and America is finally about to get a taste of one of the best international directors around.
What do you make of all this? Is Charlize Theron a good fit for the lead role in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance?
