The casting has not come particularly quick or easy for the Spike Lee directed remake of the Korean thriller Oldboy.

Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men, Men In Black III) locked in as the lead character quite early in the process but the quest for a villain so far has involved names ranging from Christian Bale to  Clive Owen, with even Colin Firth being in the mix. All have passed for various reasons and the search continues.

Filling the role of Brolin’s love interest, Marie, has been an equally difficult task. Both Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska have been offered and rejected the part of the female lead role. It is now being reported that the role of Marie has been offered to Elizabeth Olsen.

The film follows an average man who is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that his kidnapper has a greater plan for him and is set onto a path of pain and suffering in an attempt to uncover the motive of his mysterious tormentor.

The lesser known Olsen sister, Elizabeth seemingly sprang out of nowhere at Sundance 2011 to become one of America’s most sought after young actresses thanks to parts in the soon to be released Silent House and the under the radar film Martha Marcy May Marlene. With three other projects listed to start in 2013, she’s not going away anytime soon. She’s also got a sizable gap in her schedule before those projects are due to start, which makes this a very plausible option.

Nine out of ten times, when we hear about a foreign film being remade for American audiences, we here at The Flickcast are the first to agree that it will likely be terrible, and won’t do the original any justice. Then we heard that the remake of Oldboy will be taken on by acclaimed director Spike Lee.

Needless to say, we were intrigued. Now, the story is only getting better, as Jonah Hex himself, Josh Brolin, has been announced to take on the lead of the project. Here’s what Deadline has on the scoop.

It’s official: Brolin will topline the Mandate Pictures redo, which begins production in March. Brolin, who just wrapped Men in Black 3 with Will Smith, next begins work on Warner Bros’ Gangster Squad.

The new Oldboy has script adapted by Mark Protosevich, who will co-produce. Roy Lee and Doug Davison will produce via Vertigo Entertainment with Lee’s 40 Acres & A Mule. Mandate president Nathan Kahane will executive produce.

Continue Reading →

To be honest, as with most remakes, I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’m sure it might look like a great idea on paper, at least to some, but I’m not sure director Spike Lee has the required sensibilities to direct a remake of Chanwook Park’s cult classic revenge tale Oldboy.

That’s right, according to reports, Lee is set to do that very thing for Mandate Pictures. The new film is being adapted by Mark Protosevich, who will also co-produce.

It’s not that I think Lee isn’t a good director, he is. In fact, I very much enjoyed his recent film Inside Man, which showed he can reach beyond the fare he’s usually associated with. Plus, his 25th Hour was also a very good indicator of his range as a director.

But Oldboy requires a certain bit of over-the-top thinking that I’m not sure Lee can muster. I felt the same way when it was Steven Spielberg and Will Smith who were trying to mount a remake a few years ago. I’m not sure they could do the film justice either.

At least, given the choice between Spielberg and Lee, I would pick Lee to do the remake. He’s at least farther down the right track. Of course, now that this is going again and Lee is apparently onboard, the big question is who will play the title character, know as Oh Dae-Su in Park’s version?

Continue Reading →

In today’s television marketplace the traditional paradigm of new shows in the Fall and then reruns all Summer has gone away. Now, we get new shows almost anytime during the year with the midseason being one of the most popular.

Case in point are our friends at NBC who have several new shows for the midseason and we’ve got preview videos of some of them for you today. Some of these shows include The Marriage Ref, Minute to Win It and Who Do You Think You Are?.

For The Marriage Ref we’ve got a preview where Madonna goes head-to-head with Larry David and the panel turns again host Tom Papa Plus, Kelly Ripa and Don Rickles hand out some marriage advice. Next up is Minute To Win It where we find out just how difficult the challenges can be and get a closer look at two of the challenges with a slow motion camera.

Finally, with Who Do You Think You Are?, watch celebrities such as Lisa Kudrow, Spike Lee, Emmitt Smith and Susan Sarandon experience very personal moments and get a preview of four of these stories as they discover their own pasts. Actually, of the three, this one looks to be the most interesting. But whatever your thoughts about these shows, be sure to check out all the previews after the break.

Continue Reading →

Here’s a list of some of the new DVD releases this week. Plus, some old favorites coming out this week on Blu-Ray.

New Movies:

* 12 Rounds -  John Cena, Aidan Gillen (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* The Betrayed – Melissa George, Donald Adams (DVD)

* Barbra Streisand: Live in Concert 2006 (Blu-Ray)

* Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Three-Disc Special Edition) – Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Ted Nugent: Motor City Mayhem–6,000th Concert (Blu-Ray)

* Two Lovers – Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Tokyo! – Ayako Fujitani, Jean-Francois Balmer, Denis Lavant (DVD and Blu-Ray)

Continue Reading →