July 23, 2004
Casting Set For US Remake of Infernal Affairs?
Well, it looks like things are pretty much settled for the US remake of Infernal Affairs and I gotta say I'm not real pleased. According to The Hollywood Reporter the Scorsese helmed remake has been titled "The Departed", and will star Leonardo Dicaprio as the deep cover cop infiltrating the mob with Matt Damon as the mobster infiltrating the police force.
While it's not as bad as it could've been there's no way this is going to match the tone of the original. They've gone much younger and much prettier with the casting and while both Damon and Dicaprio are skilled performers I just don't see them being believable in these parts. The original film stars Andy Lau - who gives a career best performance - in the Damon role with Tony Leung - one of the finest dramatic actors in the world - in the Dicaprio part. Damon's a better fit for his role, but I really don't envy Dicaprio the task of following Leung's power house performance and both stars are far too young to be playing characters that have been in deep cover roles for upwards of fifteen years. Scorsese strikes me as a solid choice as a director, but what's with that title? "The Departed"? Sounds like a bad ghost story, not a cop thriller ...
Posted by John Campea at July 23, 2004 10:13 AM
Comments
Posted by: tracy at July 23, 2004 11:19 AM
Amen. This news was enough to finally get me around to ordering a legit copy of the original.
Posted by: Bubba at July 23, 2004 01:01 PM
I hate to say it....I have not seen this flick. Where would I find it at?
Posted by: jason at July 23, 2004 01:59 PM
I just watched infernal affairs again for like the umptenth time and I can't see dicaprio pulling it off. man, they could have cast this thing so much better - and the title is wonk.
Posted by: nick at July 23, 2004 02:30 PM
jason, you can get it at asiandiscs.com, hkflix.com, yesasia.com or eBay. there are two sequels as well, which i haven't seen but have heard good things about.
Posted by: tracy at July 23, 2004 02:33 PM
Thanks...Tracy. I'll check them out.
Posted by: jason at July 23, 2004 02:57 PM
They should cast Tom Cruise as Yan aka Tony Leung and Nickolas Cage as Ming aka Andy Lau or keep Damon as Yan and have TC as Ming. Best yet, they should just take it and sub it like Hidden Tiger. They'll still make tons of money.
Posted by: kevin at August 27, 2004 04:34 AM
Does anyone else realize there is something fundamentally wrong with American cinema string-pullers?
Why even re-make movies like this and "Shall We Dance?"? Can Asians take the big screen in the US without wearing traditional garments or doing kung fu? I guess it would be too revolutionary in this new millenium to show mainstream America that Asians can dance and be cops. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon proved that people will read subtitles for a good movie experience. Even if Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio do a spectacular job, the concept of a re-make here is so subversive.
Think about it.
Posted by: Erwin at August 31, 2004 06:55 PM
you can just go ahead and add me to the list of people who will be skipping this one. i'll stick with andy, thank you very much.