Spielberg and Smith Eye 'Oldboy' Remake

Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are discussing a remake of the terrific Korean film, Oldboy, which you would not immediately think would be a great fit for either man, much less both.

The 2003 Chan-Wook Park movie is violent and disturbing, a story of a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned in a tiny cell for 15 years. Then one day, he's set free, and naturally decides to seek out those who locked him away for many of his best years.

It's a revenge movie with some serious issues - and it's great, no question - but is it really Spielberg's cup of tea? Or Smith's? We'll find out sometime after Tintin, I guess. Variety says that Spielberg had been looking for a project that would allow him to work with the world's biggest movie star, which we take to mean he'd direct it. Smith, obviously, would play the imprisoned man, something you can see him doing with a greater facility after I Am Legend.There's no writer yet, but for this remake, with that talent, great writers will probably come back from the dead just to give it a shot. The only concern is keeping the aesthetic of the original and not softballing it. I mean, Munich is about as close to this subject matter as Spielberg has gotten, and Oldboy (or whatever they wind up calling it) has to be a little grittier than that.

Comments

[me]

bad idea, this will only ruin the origanal!! will smith be speaking in korena? no! the film will be americanised! because this isnt a mainstream film and spielburg (good as he is) makes films for the mainstream. dont kill a classic

[Brian]

Old boy is just fine as a Korean film. dont fuck it up

[me]

i hope spielberg catches a stroke and dies before he can ruin this masterpiece. he just has no respect for the superb work of others. also, i have to wonder how fuckin stupid he is. a sequel of a highly acclaimed movie that can already be considered being a classic, must suck big time compared to it.

[lugia]

"i hope spielberg catches a stroke and dies before he can ruin this masterpiece."
Me too ¬¬

[kyle rea]

Hollywood,

First off, let me explain that the very existence of my nature is to create and enjoy art.
Now tell me why it is that Hollywood puts a dollar sign on everything that steps foot in its boundaries? Are there any filmmakers these days that actually want to create art or is everybody so worried about making millions of dollars and becoming famous that they forget the whole point of art? For instance, I deem the Korean masterpiece “Oldboy” as my favorite movie of all time (alongside “Braveheart”). They are my favorite films because in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing anybody change about them to make them better films.

I’m also obsessed with movies. I’ve seen around 6,500 movies, if not more, in the past five years. I’m an artist obsessed with beauty. I found out today that “Oldboy” is going to be remade by Steven Spielberg. The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that Hollywood is once again ruining an already perfect film in order to make some quick cash. It wouldn’t bother me as much as it does had Steven Spielberg not decided to cast Will Smith as the lead character, Oh Dae-Su. The problem with replacing Min-sik Choi with the American version, Will Smith, is that Will’s acting style is NOTHING like Min-sik Choi’s. He is, for the most part, a mainstream actor that makes blockbuster films, not artistic films.

The troubling part to all this madness is Steven Spielberg, which generally makes blockbuster films for the mainstream audience, is not obsessed with upholding a perfected script, by perfected performances, to make a perfected film, which has in the past, already been perfected. You see, Spielberg, a GREAT director in my opinion, made “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List”, masterpieces. Those films are masterpieces and if another director were to remake those films, it would be the same exact thing as to what he’s doing with the already master pieced, “Oldboy”. It’s like taking Abraham Lincoln out of office and replacing him with George W. Bush Jr.

The biggest problem to remaking “Oldboy” in my belief is that Hollywood has a way of undermining the graphic details of foreign masterpieces in order to tame the essence of the film so they may reach more viewers. The eating of the live squid and sleeping with the daughter will most assuredly be pulled out for being too “graphic” for American audiences and allowing the film to be more “mainstream” and pull in more cash at the box office. It’s scenes like this that are the essence of “Oldboy” and if they are taken out for the American version of the remake, then I rest my case. For now, only time will tell but I will forever ridicule Hollywood for its lack of respect towards art. I hope one day that my own films will bring light to artistic film making once again and open doors to all that are also against the morals of Hollywood’s unoriginal get quick schemes.

This blog is based on my opinion only and I write it to make a point that not everybody has to follow the mainstream crowd. I still love some of Steven Spielberg’s work but don’t necessarily believe Will Smith even remotely comes close to the type of actor that should be cast as the lead, Oh Dae-su. I also pray, wish, and hope that Spielberg doesn’t take away the essence that is “Oldboy” or I will forever hold a silent grudge in my head for the rest of my life on Earth. Long live art over m