Collider spoke to producer Roy Lee about a number of upcoming projects on his slate, including Spike Lee's Oldboy adaption, which Josh Brolin is attached to star in.
Here's are the goods:
– Lee says preproduction will start in late January, with principal photography likely to commence in March.
– It’s very similar to the original, but they've added some new elements that he says will "throw off the audience who have seen the original movie because there are new characters and new situations that present themselves in a way that changes the story but eventually go in the same direction." Hmmm… Ok. Guess we'll have to wait to learn more about what he means by all of that.
– As for whether the new film will retain some of the controversial elements of the original, Lee says that "the ending will be something that the audiences will all be… especially the fans of the original… will be very happy with. In fact, some may consider it to be a bit darker." Again, hmm… darker? Really? That's surprising given that it's a Hollywood remake; how much darker than the original are they willing to go here? We'll see.
– And lastly, will Spike's rendition copy the infamous hallway fight sequence in Park Chan-wook's film? Lee's reply? "There’s a sort of different interpretation of that hallway scene that is going to hopefully be Spike’s signature moment in the movie that we want to show in a way that we’ve never seen done in an action movie." One more time… hmmm… the only signature Spike-ism is his dolly shot, which I think we're all familiar with. So, should we be imagining that hallway sequence with that particular perspective in mind? Further I'd ask why even attempt to copy that scene from Park Chan-wook's film? If they're taking liberties with the work, come up with something entirely fresh.
Anywho… if this is to go before cameras next March, then we should very well be seeing pieces of this baby by this time next year; in fact, the film could be in theaters late in 2012.
Read Collider's full interview with producer Lee HERE.
Stay tuned…