Even with Spike Lee taking on the film, it’s still very hard to get behind the idea of making a Hollywood version of Oldboy, but they are doing their best to fill it with intriguing people and possibilities. After bringing on Josh Brolin for the lead and then toying with us by the possibility of having him go up against Christian Bale (one of the busiest rumored actors out there as he’s supposedly attached to a billion things), Mandate Pictures is now indicating that they want to bring Rooney Mara on as the female lead, which apparently is being renamed to Marie.
Original Plot Concept: Oh Dae-su is a husband and father whose reputation for womanizing is well known. One day, for reasons he doesn’t understand, Oh Dae-su finds himself locked up in a prison cell, with no idea of what his crime was or whom his jailers may be. With a small television as his only link to the outside world and a daily ration of fried dumplings as his only sustenance, Oh Dae-su struggles to keep his mind and body intact, but when he learns through a news report that his wife has been killed, he begins a long and difficult project of digging an escape tunnel with a pair of chopsticks. Before he can finish — and after 15 years behind bars — Oh Dae-su is released, with as little explanation as when he was locked up, and he’s soon given a wad of money and a cellular phone by a bum on the street. Emotionally stunted but physically strong after 15 years in jail, Oh Dae-su struggles to unravel the secret of who is responsible for locking him up, what happened to his wife and daughter, and how to best get revenge against his captors.
[Source: Twitch]
