Spike Lee in talks to direct Oldboy remake

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The completely ill-advised remake of Chan-wook Park’s dark 2003 South Korean masterpiece OLDBOY is still threatening to be made. This time, however, the project seems to have the ever so slight possibility of not being completely watered down and potentially even interesting in a unique way.

According to Twitch, filmmaker Spike Lee (25TH HOUR, DO THE RIGHT THING) is said to be in talks to direct the Hollywood remake. Back in ’08, Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were the first big names being linked to the project, perhaps two of the most inappropriate names to head an OLDBOY remake. Reactions were generally (and rightfully) very negative, and for a moment there was an attempt to massage it all when it was said that the remake was less of a remake and more of a re-adaptation of the original manga. I don’t think that made anyone feel any better. The film is said to still be going off of a script from THOR and I AM LEGEND writer Mark Protosevich.

As for Will Smith, there’s no word on whether or not he’s still attached to the project, though after his passing on the lead role of a f*cking Quentin Tarantino film (likely for reasons of image and loss of script control), let’s hope he isn’t.