Here we go again with casting news for the upcoming American remake of the hit Korean film Oldboy. Variety is reporting that the star of District 9, Sharlto Copley, has been offered the role of the villain in Spike Lee‘s upcoming film. Copley isn’t the first actor to be in line for the role, with Clive Owen, Christian Bale and Colin Firth all passing on it earlier this year.
Ever since casting the lead, Josh Brolin, the film has had trouble finding a cast. Aside from the role of the villain, the female lead has been tough to cast as well. Only recently was Elisabeth Olsen offered the female lead, after Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska passed on it.
Seems like a lot of “passing on roles” is going on here and I can’t imagine why. The film is a fairly high profile project with an A-List director attached. Perhaps it’s because of the film’s subject material, which is quite dark. Or maybe because it’s not commercial enough, who knows?
The original Oldboy is one of my favorite films of all time and ever since I saw it (which was when it hit DVD), I’ve been waiting for the American remake. I doubt that it will live up to the original, simply because they’ll have to tone things back for American audiences, but with Lee and Brolin leading the charge, and the possibility of Olsen and Copley signing on, I think that the American remake of Oldboy can turn out to be a respectable film that can still hit just as hard as the original.
Truth be told, I’m very interested to see how they remake the film. Will it be a shot for shot remake? A re-envisioning of the story? The same film with a little Spike Lee twist on it?
Details on the direction that they’re headed in are scarce as of now but this is one project that I’m going to be following very carefully.
