February 04, 2006
Justin Lin talks OldBoy remake
The original film Oldboy is superb, and gives you a real kick in the pants near the end, a surprise that Hollywood can barely bring themselves to consider never mind write, or so I thought.
The Director of the remake Justin Lin has talked about his thoughts on the movie and what he wants to do with it, and there's not going to be any "watering down" of the story. That might be good you think, well check out what else he says over at Dark Horizons...
"Right now we're so far away from it being a reality. I love that film and the only reason I wanted to explore that avenue is because it really spoke to me. I didn't sign on to make a Xerox copy of the original because it's a masterpiece. I wanted to explore other themes within it. If I was going to come close to making a Xerox I hope I have enough sense to stop that process. Oldboy is one of those projects where structurally it's so solid and it brings up so many great themes that you could give it to ten different filmmakers and it would be interesting to see what comes out of each of them".He continued, "So far Universal has been very open to anything. I told them that I'm not signing on unless we're not going to water down the ending.
It's great that they don't want to change the ending (please don't talk about it and spoil it for anyone else. Rest assured that if I see a spoiler comment I will delete it as soon as possible, on my timezone anyway!), but explore different themes? With one hand you give, and the other you take away...
Different themes for Oldboy? Well it could mean he won't harm the original...or it could mean he's coping out and going a much easier route. Or it could even mean he's going to make a complimentary film to this one, something that you could almost watch straight after the original to get another view of the story, now that would be cool...
At least it's got the Director of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Annapolis on it? What do the Oldboy fans think?
Posted by at February 4, 2006 01:49 PM
Comments
Posted by: Sam at February 4, 2006 03:17 PM
I really wish they would give up on it. It's just one of those movies you don't remake. There is absolutely no need except to cater to english-speakers who can't bring themselves to watch a non-english movie. What I wouldn't mind seeing is someone hire Park Chan-wook to do an english language film. Then again, he might sucumb to John Woo syndrome if that happened.
Posted by: Stuka at February 4, 2006 04:26 PM
This, like most remakes, is a pretty silly idea.
I enjoyed Oldboy a lot -- and despite what Lin might say, I find it hard to believe a major studio would let a lot of the same stuff (both physically and thematically) into a major hollywood motion picture. I'd have more faith in this if it wasn't being produced by Universal or a hack like Justin Lin.
Big thumbs down on this one.
I guess we should hold our breath until Sympathy for Lady Vengeance comes out in America.
Posted by: Eric at February 4, 2006 04:55 PM
Remaking Oldboy is retarded. Not only is it a fantastic movie that stands on its own, but it hasn't even been out long. It's the kind of thing I could see them remaking years and years and years after the original one, but not now. It's too soon, and Oldboy is just too good to have a remake stain its reputation. After all, if people see the remake, and it sucks, that won't make them want to see the older one.
Posted by: arjcandyman ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](../../../../nav-commenters.gif)
at February 4, 2006 06:13 PM
Let me put this simply: this Oldboy fan thinks it's a VERY BAD IDEA.
Posted by: Domokate at February 5, 2006 12:34 PM
Instead, why doesn't he say, "Oldboy was an enjoyable movie and you should see it." Leave it alone.
Posted by: KellTrenzer at February 5, 2006 11:44 PM
I was pissed off when I first heard they were remaking it, now with every article I hear about it I am getting more and more angry.
Why remake the damm thing is my question!!!!!!
I don't care if he is exploring "different themes" he is soiling the name of Chan-wook Park and Oldboy. The only good thing I can see coming of this remake is that it fails miserably and Justin Lin never gets to make another film. Hopefully in the process making more people go out and see the original. i.e. Dark Water or The Grudge which made me and go out and see the originals because the remakes were so poor.
Why can’t Hollywood stop interfering with perfectly good films in the first place, do they take us all for morons who don’t want to see films that have subtitles.