By Spike Lee’s remake of the seminal South Korean thriller Oldboy for Mandate Pictures has been delayed due to star Josh Brolin’s commitments to Men In Black 3, which is at least one reason to be thankful for that movie’s existence. The American Oldboy has had a bumpy ride in reaching even this early stage of development, with Spike Lee reportedly only taking the gig once a Steven Spielberg’s plans to make it a Will Smith vehicle fell through (Smith, of course, now being Brolin’s co-star for MIB3).
Casting hasn’t been going much better, with Rooney Mara turning down the female lead and Colin Firth and Christian Bale both rejecting the villain role. You can now add Clive Owen to the latter list (it would have been quite something had he been offered the female lead), after he declined to get onboard the project for reasons unknown. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is another movie struggling to get moving due to a lack of interest from prospective cast members, and is now stuck in development hell. Time to take a hint, Mandate?
[via Collider]