The hammer scene shall return! If you’ve seen Oldboy, then you’re likely just as excited as I am about that. And that’s not the only piece of good news regarding the upcoming American remake of Oldboy. Star Josh Brolin revealed a few more details that you can check out below.
During the junket for Men in Black 3, Brolin was of course asked about the upcoming remake and he had quite a lot to say on it.
Oldboy? Literally you say Oldboy and my stomach just goes Grrrrrr [mimics twisting and turning]. Oldboy will be an experience, man. It wont be like Men In Black, I’ll tell you that much. I’m really happy about it. We’ve gotten amazing actors: Liz Olsen, who I think is fantastic and we also got Sharlto Copley from District 9 who I think is going to be unbelievable. He just wrote me an e-mail and was like, ‘Look, I’ve got to get this out of the way. Dude, Goonies is my favorite film of all time,’ which I thought was really sweet. And now I’m going to make 20 years of your life miserable.
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.
He was then asked if the hammer scene would be included.
Yes, by the way. Yes. 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.
Seems like Brolin has a lot of respect for the original film, which is always nice to see. Many people, including myself, have their doubts about the remake. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the original Oldboy but remaking it for American audiences is going to be tricky.
As of now, I still don’t see how it’s going to be a worthy remake but who knows, Brolin and crew may surprise me. I’m sure hoping they do.
What worries me though is when he says that they’re going to make “a different version.” I’m not sure what that means. Will it be toned down? Will they mess with key plot points? Will they completely butcher the original?
Only time will tell but seeing as the original is one of my favorite movies of all time, I really hope that the remake will turn out alright.
