Spike Lee is in the director’s chair for the remake, which tells of a man who is incarcerated for 15 years by an unknown captor, before being unexpectedly released and tasked with finding out who kidnapped him and why. Will Smith had been rumoured to be circling the project, but it will now be Josh Brolin. Brolin is all done now with his shooting duties for Men In Black III (alongside Will Smith, natch) and is expected to shoot Gangster Squad before squeezing Oldboy in before Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, which should kick off filming next June. Wowsers, that’s a lot of work in a short space of time, but you know what they say, make hay while the sun shines. Or something like that.
There are rumours circulating that long-serving Batman but occasional American Psycho Christian Bale might sign on as Brolin’s captor, which would certainly make for interesting viewing, but this is all going to stand or fall on Lee’s direction and Mark Protosevich’s screenplay.
What do you think? Is Brolin a good fit for this? Would Bale work well alongside him? Answers below.