As Spike Lee‘s Oldboy prepares for release and William Monahan & Charlize Theron scope out Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the final remaining installment of Park Chan-wook‘s Vengeance Trilogy is being swooped into the English-language machine. According to TheWrap, director Hany Abu-Assad, best-known for the Oscar-nominated Paradise Now, is on tap to bring a new incarnation of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance — complete with the backing of di Bonaventura Pictures, Silver Reel, CJ Entertainment, and Lotus Entertainment.
There’s no word on how the original picture’s graphic, unsparing displays of violence would be toned-down for the sake of a mainstream American release, as expected as such a shift may be in the first place. Perhaps the somewhat-justifiable actions of its protagonist — a man whose sister can’t afford a kidney transplant takes up heinous, violent crimes as a means of earning the necessary money — will be an avenue for scribe Brian Tucker (Broken City) to make the basic tale, as previously devised, work in a more homogenized context. (The character has feelings just like you and I — plus, he’s a deaf-mute!) There’s sure to be plenty of public groveling, regardless of the approach, though Mr. Vengeance could prove an interesting item simply by virtue of the concessions which may or may not prove necessary. Now, will it be any good? That remains to be seen.
In the meantime, here’s a trio of viral-ish posters for the aforementioned Oldboy update, opening on November 27:
Is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance a film you think could stand the remake treatment?