More Hollywood Plans that Must Be Stopped
Dominic just emailed me this article, ruining my fucking day. Basically its further information on the continuing, horrifying plans to produce an American remake of Oldboy, which is also my favorite movie, one of those movies I make everyone I know watch sooner or later because I think its that wonderful and I enjoy spreading its cult around. Steven Spielberg is trying to get it, and he wants to cast Will Smith in the lead role.
Will Smith. Will fucking Smith???
Are you fucking kidding me? Even the if you could cast this movie with American actors thread over on IMDB was coming up with better suggestions than that. What the fuck are you thinking Spielberg?
I don't like Will Smith, his presence annoys me and has since the beginning of his career. Whatever he is doing, he is always Will Smith, he is not someone that blends into a role, he's mostly just an attitude and a really loud mouth. Neither of which is going to be at all useful in a role like this, he doesn't have even close to the emotional range to pull that part off. Why don't you look into actors whose career hasn't been mostly loud and flashy action films? Oldboy is only part action (and even for the action part, Oh Dae-Su is not a loud mouth with an attitude, he is a ruined man going after the people who ruined him because its the only thing he has left), not all of it, not the important part, the one that burns into your mind; the very thought of Will Smith struggling to act his way through the last twenty minutes of that movie is enough to make my brain bleed.
Of course, I'd prefer they scrap this idea altogether. This movie was perfect the first time, it does not need to be remade, just get the fucking Korean version and put the fucking subtitles on not that hard. Even beyond casting problems, I continue to have this nagging fear that they will alter the end of the movie, that its too taboo for mainstream America so it needs to be fixed, made different, made happier. If you're going to do that, you might as well slap another title on it and disavow any connection with the Korean movie. Without that ending, Oldboy is nothing but an entertaining revenge thriller. Its that ending twist that makes it so memorable. If you are not prepared to have the plot run the exact same way, have it end on the exact same note, then why even bother?
And forget this Will Smith shit. That is so miscast its not even funny.
Will Smith. Will fucking Smith???
Are you fucking kidding me? Even the if you could cast this movie with American actors thread over on IMDB was coming up with better suggestions than that. What the fuck are you thinking Spielberg?
I don't like Will Smith, his presence annoys me and has since the beginning of his career. Whatever he is doing, he is always Will Smith, he is not someone that blends into a role, he's mostly just an attitude and a really loud mouth. Neither of which is going to be at all useful in a role like this, he doesn't have even close to the emotional range to pull that part off. Why don't you look into actors whose career hasn't been mostly loud and flashy action films? Oldboy is only part action (and even for the action part, Oh Dae-Su is not a loud mouth with an attitude, he is a ruined man going after the people who ruined him because its the only thing he has left), not all of it, not the important part, the one that burns into your mind; the very thought of Will Smith struggling to act his way through the last twenty minutes of that movie is enough to make my brain bleed.
Of course, I'd prefer they scrap this idea altogether. This movie was perfect the first time, it does not need to be remade, just get the fucking Korean version and put the fucking subtitles on not that hard. Even beyond casting problems, I continue to have this nagging fear that they will alter the end of the movie, that its too taboo for mainstream America so it needs to be fixed, made different, made happier. If you're going to do that, you might as well slap another title on it and disavow any connection with the Korean movie. Without that ending, Oldboy is nothing but an entertaining revenge thriller. Its that ending twist that makes it so memorable. If you are not prepared to have the plot run the exact same way, have it end on the exact same note, then why even bother?
And forget this Will Smith shit. That is so miscast its not even funny.