Lee's Oldboy is scripted by Mark Protosevich, who most recently earned a co-writing credit on Thor and previously adapted studio flicks Poseidon and I Am Legend. (His first film was The Cell, Tarsem's twisted sci-fi thriller.) It remains to be seen how much he'll keep Oldboy as sick and viciously violent as the cult hit original, which stars Choi Min-sik as the hammer-wielding vengeance-seeker Oh Dae-su, since the remake is said to draw from both the film and the source manga it was based on as a re-envisioning of the material.
The casting of Brolin, however, should bring some comfort to fans; No Country for Old Men went a long way in establishing Brolin's interest in edgier fare and his ability to play hardened, adaptable men capable of violence. Lee's a bit more of a mystery here; will his Americanized Oldboy include the kind of gory, visceral moments that make Chan-wook's version iconic to genre fans? Or will it find a sort of Departed-level happy medium between the gore-inclined sensibilities of Asian cinema and the threshold of American audiences?
Personally, I'd prefer the former but I'm expecting the latter. Chime in below: How much deference to the original film should Lee's Oldboy have?
ยท Josh Brolin To Star In Spike Lee's 'Oldboy' Redo For Mandate [Deadline]