There’sbeen a lot of grumbling on the Web concerning the proposed American remake of Korean
cult fave flick Oldboy, not the
least of which concerns the choice of Justin Lin for director. And with each
subsequent Justin Lin stinker that washed up in theaters (
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift),
the gnawing feeling in our collective belly grew worse.
stop by your parish, mosque, or sanctuary this Sunday, and big up the
omnipotent deity of your choice, because J-Lin’s involvement on the project seems
to have come to an end. According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, Lin said at
Sundance that it doesn’t look like the film will happen with him at the helm.
He reasons that because he has so many other projects in the works, the only
way he can do Oldboy is if
everything “gelled” together (Is he holding out for an endorsement deal for Dr.
Scholl’s insoles?). Despite actually taking the job in the first place, he
somehow claims to love the original film to the point where he wouldn’t want to
disrespect it.
Removing
himself from the helm is a big step toward actually proving that. Of course,
now that Justin’s out of the way, it’s unclear where the project will go from
here.
being said, I did have second thoughts about slagging Lin in this article once
I saw some info on the film he was at Sundance pimping. The cast includes MC
Hammer, Dustin Nguyen from
and George Takei, along with Lin regular and Lindsay Lohan-eschewer James
Franco.
Then
again, this is Justin Lin we’re talking about, so this film is probably an
unfunny intentional comedy squandering the infinite potential of the
aforementioned lineup.
Either
way, we lose.