Does Spike Lee Want To Sin Too Much, And Direct Oldboy?

An American remake Oldboy is coming.   It will be defanged and be dragged, silently kicking and twisting, into theaters.

And the latest name attached to its leash is none other than Spike Lee.

TwitchFilm has the scoop, and reports that Lee is in talks, though not officially attached.   The project is set up at Mandate Pictures with Doug Davison and Roy Lee producing, and Mark Protosevich writing the script.   No one knows if Will Smith is still attached to star, or if he left when Steven Spielberg did.

Now, I have to grudgingly admit Lee is an interesting choice, and undoubtedly better suited to the story than Steven Spielberg is.  He’s not afraid to be controversial, for one, and he’s played well with claustrophobia and entrapment. It would probably be the one [American] Oldboy film that made you want to choke and swing out with a hammer.

But there still remains that nagging, annoying fact that this doesn’t need to be remade, even out of the curiosity to see what “[X] does with the material.” I’ve seen Oldboy. I remain profoundly uninterested in seeing it take shape under someone else.   That might just be me, though.