Colin Firth to play the villain in Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake?

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

If this little casting rumor turns out to be true, then you can consider me becoming more and more intrigued with Spike Lee’s remake of OLDBOY.

Twitch broke the news today that British thesp and recent Oscar winner Colin Firth (THE KING’S SPEECH) has been offered the role of the villain in OLDBOY; the role was inhabited by Ji-tae Yu in the Chan-wook Park movie. He’d be squaring off against Josh Brolin’s vengeful anti-hero.

Before anyone goes nuts, make sure you realize that this is in no way a done deal. Just because an offer is out doesn’t mean it has been accepted. That said, it’s interesting to see who the filmmakers are targeting for their remake – at the very least, their casting ideas are very solid. (And if you happen to be a skeptic, you should note that Twitch was the first outlet to break the news that Brolin was attached to the flick.)

Here’s the synopsis for the Korean original. Except for the names, we can assume that the new film’s plot is basically the same: Oh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is abducted and locked up in a strange and private “prison.” No one will tell him why he’s there and who his jailer is. His fury builds to a single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he is unexpectedly freed, given a new suit, a cell-phone and 5 days to discover the mysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance on all those involved, he soon finds that his enemy’s tortures are just beginning.

We’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on this development…

Firth’s KING’S SPEECH co-star Helena Bonham Carter