Last month, he was reportedly at the top of the short list of actors in contention for the role; today, it’s been confirmed that Josh Brolin will indeed headline Spike Lee’s US adaptation of Oldboy, the Japanese manga made popular by Park Chan-wook’s 2003 award-winning film.
Production is scheduled to begin in March of 2012.
I know some of you folks automatically assumed that the lead role would go to a black actor, since Spike was attached. But, not-so-fast my friends. I never expected that to happen; unless the actor’s name was either Will Smith or Denzel Washington. Will was actually once attached to star, but that obviously never came to fruition.
Regardless, I’m OK with this decision. I like Brolin as an actor.
Now let’s see if Christian Bale signs on as well to take on the role as the film’s villain.
Another question is just how faithful to the original Manga this Hollywood adaptation will be. Folks automatically make comparisons to the Park Chan-wook 2003 film; but keep in mind that, his film was an adaptation of the Japanese manga, as Spike’s will be. So this is not a remake of Park Chan-wook’s film, but an adaptation of the original manga.
Stay tuned…