Spike Lee In Talks To Direct OLDBOY Remake

The remake of the Korean thriller isn’t dead, but an interesting director could be attached.

By Jul. 06, 2011

Well, this is better than Spielberg at least.

Twitch is reporting that Spike Lee is in talks to direct the American remake of the South Korean classic Oldboy, which Spielberg and Will Smith were kicking around a couple of years ago. The original film is a hard edged, bleak revenge thriller that feels completely and totally wrong for Spielberg and Smith; I’m not entirely sure the material is any more classically Spike Lee, but at least he’s a guy who might have the nerve to go to the dark places to which original director Park Chan-Wook went.

Honestly, I’m more interested in Spike directing the film because of what it could do for Spike’s career. This movie’s going to be a waste of time no matter what, but if it can get the next real Spike Lee movie financed, I’m in.

And here’s hoping that Will Smith stays away from it. There’s no way the guy who didn’t have the balls to do Django Unchained will do Oldboy any justice.

Comments