According to an article in Variety magazine, Steven Spielberg and Will Smith seem rather interested in making an American remake of a 2003 film ‘Oldboy’ directed by Korean director Park Chanwook.

A cult hit, Oldboy is the centrepiece of Chanwook’s revenge trilogy, an intensely violent saga about a man held hostage for 15 long years, who is then mysteriously released and allowed to go on a brutal spree of revenge that involves eating a live octopus, commiting incest, including slicing out his own tongue.  In short, it is nothing like what either Spielberg or Will Smith do e.g. mainstream, family-friendly, sensitive pictures.

All those who are used to the mainstream fare of Spielberg and Smith, must be having a fit of apoplexy, however, sooner or later someone in Hollywood was bound to do a remake of this violent film, and with Speilberg and Smith opting to do it, at least it is not being rehashed by hacks.  The duo are both not only at the top of their respective careers as actor and director, they are also creative and able to sell even the grimmest to mainstream audiences.

With Spielberg and Smith still in early discussions to collaborate on the revenge drama, according to Variety, DreamWorks is in the midst of acquiring rights to remake the 2003 Chan-wook film.  Presumably, Smith will play the lead role in the American remake.  While, Spielberg has hinted around the bush about his next directing effort, he has had Tintin and Abraham Lincoln’s biopic on his plate for a while now.

Undoubtedly, a combination of Spielberg and Smith combined can pull this off, though one can only hope no aliens form part of the film, no matter how cute E.T. was and how he tugged at our heartstrings.