Perpetually looking to repurpose any quality foreign films for American consumption, Hollywood has found their latest acquistion with a South Korean film that recently had a limited roll-out here in the states. Not to be confused with the Terrence Malick film, New World is a crime drama from Park Hoon-jung, the writer behind Kim Ji-woon‘s deliciously evil I Saw the Devil.
Starring Oldboy‘s Choi Min-si and The Housemaid‘s Lee Jung-jae, the film follows an undercover police agent in submerged in a powerful crime family and now Sony Pictures think they could have a Departed-size hit on their hands. According to Deadline, the studio recently picked up the remake rights to the project and have already set Will Fetters (whose credits on Remember Me and The Lucky One seem a bit far removed from this material) to script. While we await additional updates, one can check out the domestic trailer and if you’ve seen the film, let us know below if you think it could be a worthy remake with the right talent attached.
The head of the Goldmoon crime syndicate is dead, leaving his top two lieutenants. Seizing the opportunity, the police launch an operation called “New World,” with the perfect weapon. The boss’s right hand man, Ja-sung (Lee Jung-jae, THE THIEVES), has been a deep-cover operative for 8 years, closely watched by handler police chief Kang (Choi Min-sik, OLDBOY). With a baby on the way, and living in mortal fear of being exposed as a mole, Ja-sung is torn between his duty and honor as a cop, and the fiercely loyal gang members who will follow him to hell and back.
New World is now in limited release.
Do you like the original? Who should direct and star in the Hollywood version?