The folks at Twitch, who broke the initial story about Spike Lee’s involvement in the US adaptation of Oldboy, just revealed that Josh Brolin is the production and financing company’s (Mandate Pictures’) top choice to star as the lead character in Spike Lee’s direction of the Japanese manga made popular by Park Chan-wook’s 2003 award-winning film.
But, as Twitch notes, nothing has been signed yet, so it’s not necessarily a done deal. They very well could be looking at other actors.
I know some folks automatically assumed that the lead role would go to a black actor, since Spike was attached, but, not-so-fast my friends. I never expected that to happen; unless the actor’s name was either Will Smith or Denzel Washington; essentially, big name stars with international appeal. Will was actually once attached to star, so it won’t be a stretch.
I joked on Twitter about starting rumors saying that Idris Elba would be cast in the role, not really expecting that he would even be considered. Although, given that I’ve read the comic the film is based on, and seen Chan-wook’s film, I’d say Idris would actually be a good fit, given what he did in a film like Legacy, which takes place almost entirely in one room, and his work on Luther.
So, who knows; maybe Idris is on the short-list; maybe he’s not. He’s certainly a *hot* actor right now.
Regardless, if Brolin does get the job, I’ll be OK with that. I like him as an actor.
Who do you think should be cast in the role? Chime in below…