LAZY HOLLYWOOD: Old Boy remake news

There aren't a whole lot of words to describe what Old Boy is. Revenge flick? Sure. Love story? Why not. Brutally violent? Absolutely. But just saying those words doesn't properly describe just what Park Chan-Wook's Old Boy truely is. And that's why I'm just so happy that a recent lawsuit may be holding up the impending remake.

Reuter's has the full story, but as quickly as I can put it, the production company of the movie sold the remake rights without consulting the publisher of the original manga. Sounds like that could throw a wrench in the gears right? Only sort of. Reuters has this:

Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are moving forward with plans for a remake of "Old Boy" despite a complex, behind-the-scenes rights wrangle involving the Japanese publishers of the original manga and the Korean producers of Park Chan-Wook's 2003 cult hit.

Spielberg is a pretty persistant son of a bitch, eh? No rights, but still moving along? Nothing pains me more than the thought of Will Smith as Oh Dae-Su. That idea is about as hateful as they get. Not that I don't like Will Smith, but a father-son drama this is not.

Word has it that Spielberg plans to stick closer to the manga than Park Chan-Wook did, which is about the only reason I would ever even be ok with redoing Old Boy. But the idea as a whole just doesn't work for me. Old Boy is a brilliant film even as far as it reaches from the source. Making something as edgy and challenging as this is something American cinema is not going to do.