Two action-thrillers generated the most buzz during Midnight Madness at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival: Frédéric Jardin’s Sleepless Night, and Gareth Evans’ The Raid. Coincidentally, both are receiving U.S. remakes… even before most American audience members have been able to see the originals.
We noted earlier that a Raid remake was on its way, yet a Screen Gems press release is providing fresh details. Apparently the deal is done and it will be produced by XYZ Films, which produced the original, and Evans will executive produce (but will neither write nor direct the English-language version). However – and this is important – the fight choreographers who filled the screen with bone-crunching violence will be involved with the U.S. production.
Audiences at TIFF described The Raid as Die Hard in a drug kingpin’s lair, where an elite SWAT squad infiltrates a tenement stacked with hardened criminals and then must fight their way out of claustrophobic situation when the plan goes awry. The premise is fantastic, and the red-band trailer I’m pasting below suggests spectacularly imaginative action set pieces that could fly if put in the right hands. So now, the major questions: who directs the U.S. remake? Who will Screen Gems get to star? Can the Americanized version possibly live up to the Indonesian original, or will the hype swirling around the real Raid poke holes in the yet-to-be-produced remake and deflate it before it even reaches out theaters? Stay tuned.
