That said, the idea of Will Smith as the Oh Dae-Su character enrages me. Smith seems like a good guy but I think his range is extremely limited. He’s always chosen ‘safe’ roles where the audience is meant to sympathize with him. I think it’s too late for him to come across as a believable, complex, conflicted character.

There’s a slight chance I could see him as the antagonist (Lee Woo-Jin)…thought I’ve always secretly hoped Christian bale would get that role if there’s a remake.

As far as Oh Dae-Su…I like the idea of Gary Oldman…but he might be TOO old these days. Maybe Edward Norton…

All in all though, I really don’t see a point in a remake. The original is amazing, perfect just the way it is…i can’t see Hollywood making any improvements; it’s just an insult toward Park Chan-Wook, in my opinion.

And American audiences are gonna be pretty shellshocked to find out that Will Smith fucked on his own daughter in the movie! I really would want this to work, but from my perspective it has a lot of disaster potential.

But maybe Spielberg’s clout would help him get away with leaving the bleakness intact. I liked Munich a lot, and it was a pretty bleak film with an ambiguous ending …

This is what I stated in a Whitechapel thread:

“I don’t always bash remakes like 99% of netpeeps but remaking films that have masterful visceral elements (like the now classic hallway fight) is ridiculous.”

Later in the thread I followed up with:

“I think it would be an interesting role for Smith (seeing how he never plays a ruthless killer) but he wouldn’t be close to ideal. However, I really don’t think Spielberg would be capable of making this pop. Oldboy (and I say this w/o having read the manga) requires a director that is capable of making the audience feel that Daisuke’s situation is bleak and nothing is guaranteed. In films where emotions of that nature seem to be the obvious intention Spielberg never hits the right note.”