Good news!According to filmschoolrejects.com it seems that Will Smith has stated that the American version of Oldboy won’t be based on the Korean film but instead based on the original manga. This will come as good news to fanboys that were worried that Steven Spielberg (or any American company) wouldn’t be able to capture the graphic nature of the original Korean film.
Oldboy (올드보이) was a popular 2003 revenge film from Korea which was based on a Japanese manga by the same (オールド・ボーイ) written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya which ran from 1996 until 1998. Now normally I’m 100% against Hollywood remakes, but in this case I’ll make an exception. I think if Spielberg tackles Oldboy that it might popularize and open the door for more Asian cinema to come to the United States. And if he can get a popular actor like Will Smith involved that would be a real cherry on top:
“Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are in early discussions to collaborate on a remake of Chan Wook-park’s “Oldboy.” DreamWorks is in the process of securing the remake rights, and the new pic will be distributed by Universal. In the 2003 Korean original, a man gets kidnapped and held in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, he’s released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge.”
