Before the final screening of their new film The Guest at the Toronto International Film Festival last night, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett confessed to the crowd that they were now Hollywood big shots with expensive cocaine habits. While they were obviously joking, we all knew there was a grain of truth underneath it all and I wondered what upcoming projects they might have up their sleeves. Considering their obvious skill for constructing action and mayhem on screen, I was fully prepared to hear about them taking on the next big comic book movie or sci-fi reboot. Now just one day later we have learned that they are indeed lining up a remake, but as it turns out, it’s about as non-mainstream as you can get. The duo will be carving out an American version of Kim Jee-Woon’s I Saw the Devil.

According to The Wrap, Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard are finalizing a deal to write and direct an English-language remake of I Saw the Devil for Adi Shankar and Spencer Silna’s 1984 Private Defense Contractors. Barrett and Wingard’s production company Snoot Entertainment will also be involved with Keith Calder and Jessica Calder coming on board as producers. Although they are reportedly already meeting with actors, Adam Wingard took to Twitter to caution that the project is still at a very early stage:

Wow surprised that the I Saw The Devil news leaked. Its still very early in the process, we'll talk about it more closer to time.

— Adam Wingard (@AdamWingard) September 15, 2014

He also tried to re-assure folks by stating that he hated Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake just as much as everyone else did. Although people are generally pretty hostile toward remakes, I think it’s pretty easy to see the potential in this particular project. Barrett and Wingard are the perfect team to ensure that an American version doesn’t get toned down… if anything, I expect it will only become even more twisted. What do you think, are you interested in seeing a new take on I Saw the Devil?