As brother Albert Hughes' Motor City stalls, twin brother Allen Hughes is on a roll, onto his next project after recently wrapping principal photography on Broken City with Mark Wahlberg starring; the movie is scheduled for a Januarty 2013 release.
And that project is a remake of the 2005 South Korean gangster film, A Bittersweet Life, which was directed and written by Kim Ji-woon, which premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and went on to receive rave reviews from critics across the globe (currently at a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes).
Described as a violent crime drama, the synopsis for A Bittersweet Life reads:
Sun-woo is a devastatingly effective, but businesslike enforcer for Mr. Kang, a mob boss who owns La Dolce Vita, the Seoul nightclub where Sun-woo employs the sloppier, less reliable Mun-suk to keep things running smoothly. Kang is involved in a developing feud with another boss, President Baek, when he goes on a business trip, leaving Sun-woo in charge, and discreetly asking him for a special favor. There's a "special" young woman he's been seeing, Hee-soo. He suspects she's been seeing another man, and he asks Sun-woo to look after her while he's gone, and find out if she's cheating on him. If Sun-woo catches them together, Kang tells him, he should either phone Kang and tell him, or "finish them off yourself." But Sun-woo finds himself fascinated with Hee-soo, a cellist, and his inability to follow Kang's orders soon brings a world of trouble down on his head. Of course, Sun-woo is fully capable of making some trouble of his own.
Deadline says the Allen Hughes remake is being fast tracked by Fox and New Regency, with Anthony Peckham (Jack Ryan, Sherlock Holmes) penning the script.
South Korean cinema seems to be Hollywood's latest well from which remakes are pulled; according to AsianFanatics.net, remake rights of 26 South Korean films have been sold to Hollywood, including major box office hits Oldboy and The Host. And that figure was as of 2009. It's probably higher 3 years later.
No word on casting yet.
Here's a trailer for the original film:
