OLDBOY Stars On How The Film Differs From The South Korean Version

To be fair, Park Chan-wook's adaptation of Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya's original manga has some significant differences from the source material. Spike Lee has stated previously that his version will be more in keeping with the manga. Mark Protosevich, screen writer of Spike Lee's film said something similar, that American audiences familiar with the original movie can expect something different this November. "The core story is the same, but there are some cultural aspects of the original that I feel are very much of its culture, and I was very conscious of trying to make our film resonate more from a Western perspective. There were certain elements that were very stylized in the original, and I think we wanted to ground it more in reality, or at least that was my intention to make it play in a more straightforward sense. So, it was trying to capture the spirit and story of the original but trying to make it very much ours. I think there are similar ideas being investigated because it's about a character going through a very traumatic, unusual experience. It transforms him. It's also about being isolated, being alone and what that does to your psyche. Do you give up or do you try to survive? The whole horrific experience in some ways makes him a better person."

Samuel L. Jackson echoed those sentiments, adding, "There are so many things that are different and so many things that are similar, in theme, yes, in execution, not so much. My particular character I just wanted to be interesting and sort of off-key in a physical and sort of temperamental sort of way, and Spike allowed me to bring a lot of stuff with me and use a majority of it, so I'm very pleased."