Mark Protosevich‘s resume is a rather solid one: He counts THE CELL, POSEIDON, I AM LEGEND and THOR among the films he’s worked on – big budget, extremely visual pictures that were met with varying degrees of audience approval. His latest work is easily the most provocative: a “re-imagening” of OLDBOY. Though based on the manga by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the title is more closely associated with the 2005 adaptation by Park Chan-Wook; the violent and surreal film has become both an arthouse cult classic and fanboy favorite since its release. Remakes are always met with plenty of doubters, but this one in particular has faced a significant uphill challenge since its inception.
Protosevich’s demeanor is in direct contrast to the material he works on; a thoroughly friendly and pleasant man, you’d never guess he’s killed so many people (with his keyboard, to be fair). In the interview below, Protosevich and myself talk about his long involvement with the project (Will Smith was the one who hired him when he and Steven Spielberg were working on it), as well as his collaboration with director Spike Lee. This writer obviously has a lot of things to say (as is a writer’s prerogative), so hopefully you’re just as interested in his process as I am. Quite wish we had had even more time to converse.
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