While at the press junket for
Men in Black 3 (via
/Film), actor Josh Brolin discussed his role in Spike Lee's upcoming
Oldboy remake. He talks about the current cast members for the film, confirming the involvement of Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley.
“Oldboy will be an experience, man. It won't be like Men In Black, I’ll tell you that much. I’m really happy about it. We’ve gotten amazing actors: Liz Olsen, who I think is fantastic and we also got Sharlto Copley from District 9 who I think is going to be unbelievable. He just wrote me an e-mail and was like, ‘Look, I’ve got to get this out of the way. Dude, Goonies is my favorite film of all time,’ which I thought was really sweet. And now I’m going to make 20 years of your life miserable.”
Additionally, Brolin revealed that he sought approval from Chan-wook Park (director of the original 2003 film) before accepting the role in Spike Lee's film.
“I love Oldboy and I’m close with Chan-wook Park and I emailed him a couple months ago, just asking for his blessing to do this movie because if he had said ‘No,’ I wouldn’t have done it. But I really respect his movie and we’ll make a little different movie and this whole idea of a more Hollywood version of it? Whatever. We’re just going to make a different version but have respect to the initial story and premise. I’m looking forward to it, man. I’m talking about it nervously right now because it makes me nervous.”
Finally, Brolin confirmed that the famous hammerfight from the original movie will be used in the new version.
“Yes, by the way. Yes. And it’s a hammer and knife and all that stuff. And then will we keep the octopus, will we keep the other stuff? There’s some changes but I think it’s really good. It still makes me throw down the script half way through.”
Oldboy will begin production late summer/early fall, when Josh Brolin finishes promoting
Men In Black 3.