Oh Thank You Sweet Gods!
Last year, I had just about burst a blood vessel when I heard that my favorite Asian movie ever was set to be remade in the US, by Steven Spielberg and Will Fucking Smith, an actor that, even if I didn't hate him (and I do, I really, truly do) is really just a walking attitude with no emotional range and oh so very wrong for this part.
Today, chasing down links on something else, I found out that project is dead. No American Oldboy remake is forthcoming.
THANK YOU!!!!!!
Seriously, I owe Somebody offerings of thanks. Now, who would be the god opposed to bad and unnecessary Hollywood remakes.
That same article also confirmed something I suspected but didn't know for sure. Spielberg and Smith never planned to remake the movie, but some manga that movie was loosely based on. And why that and not the better known film? Well, because apparently the manga doesn't contain all the icky parts that would be too uncomfortable for our uptight American audiences. That aspect of the story, it seems, exists only in the Korean movie.
I fucking knew it, I knew you wouldn't have the balls. And that was the number one reason I was opposed to any American remake, I knew they would ruin the ending, sanitize it for American audiences, suck away what made the movie so good and so original in the first place; but who cares, as long as nobody has to watch something taboo, we all know people can't handle that. Or can handle that something they might find offensive exists in the first place, even if they can very easily just not watch it. Witness some recent uproars over certain movies in certain communities if you don't believe me.
So, something I love is safe for a while yet; actually most of the movies I like from that part of the world are probably safe, since its not the ghost stories I'm usually watching (as a general rule I don't like ghost stories, since they typically end up being movies about people helping people and gag, the Asian ones are often better than the American ones, but still not so much). Maybe next time Hollywood will just stay back altogether, at least until it grows a pair. Not holding my breath waiting for that.
Today, chasing down links on something else, I found out that project is dead. No American Oldboy remake is forthcoming.
THANK YOU!!!!!!
Seriously, I owe Somebody offerings of thanks. Now, who would be the god opposed to bad and unnecessary Hollywood remakes.
That same article also confirmed something I suspected but didn't know for sure. Spielberg and Smith never planned to remake the movie, but some manga that movie was loosely based on. And why that and not the better known film? Well, because apparently the manga doesn't contain all the icky parts that would be too uncomfortable for our uptight American audiences. That aspect of the story, it seems, exists only in the Korean movie.
I fucking knew it, I knew you wouldn't have the balls. And that was the number one reason I was opposed to any American remake, I knew they would ruin the ending, sanitize it for American audiences, suck away what made the movie so good and so original in the first place; but who cares, as long as nobody has to watch something taboo, we all know people can't handle that. Or can handle that something they might find offensive exists in the first place, even if they can very easily just not watch it. Witness some recent uproars over certain movies in certain communities if you don't believe me.
So, something I love is safe for a while yet; actually most of the movies I like from that part of the world are probably safe, since its not the ghost stories I'm usually watching (as a general rule I don't like ghost stories, since they typically end up being movies about people helping people and gag, the Asian ones are often better than the American ones, but still not so much). Maybe next time Hollywood will just stay back altogether, at least until it grows a pair. Not holding my breath waiting for that.