After many, many months of trying to get a cast together, Spike Lee may have finally found someone to play the villain in his remake of Oldboy. Josh Brolin has long been attached to play the lead originated by Min-sik Choi, and Martha Marcy May Marlene star Elizabeth Olsen has agreed to play the female lead. Finding the antagonist, however, has been a very special kind of challenge. Actors such as Christian Bale, Clive Owen, and Colin Firth have all been offered the chance to play the part, but nobody has agreed. Perhaps the fourth time will be the charm?
Variety is reporting that an offer is now out to Sharlto Copley to play the villain in the English-language Oldboy remake. Copley, who broke out in 2009 with his lead performance in Neill Blomkamp's District 9, has been largely absent from the big screen since, his last performance coming in Joe Carnahan's The A-Team. He does have two projects on the horizon for next year, including Blomkamp's Elysium (which also stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and William Fichtner) and director Sebastián Cordero's science fiction thriller Europa.
Oldboy is being written by Mark Protosevich and will star Brolin as a man who is mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years. One day he is released, given some clothes, money and a cell phone and he goes on a mission to figure out why he was kidnapped. Olsen will play a young caseworker who helps Brolin on his mission. The article doesn't mention when production will start or when the film will be released.
