No no no no no

It’s official. Mandate Pictures has announced that Spike Lee has been signed to direct a US remake of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy (which kicks serious ass). Oldboy won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Now it’ll be watered down for the American market. Mark Protosevich has adapted the screenplay and will co-produce.

Dan Freedman, SVP business affairs, negotiated the deals for Mandate. This is the project that Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were looking to collaborate on back in 2008, with DreamWorks seeking the remake rights at the time. The film originally was set up at Universal before Mandate took over. The story centers on a man who is kidnapped on his daughter’s birthday and held for 15 years in solitary confinement without explanation. He is eventually released and sets out on a path to take revenge on those who destroyed his life. [Deadline]

If any film should be left alone, it’s this. That or at least get David Fincher or Quentin Tarantino to direct it. At least they’d make a decent adaption. The last thing I need in that movie is a lecture on race relations. If Denzel Washington gets cast in this, you know he’s just going to phone this in.

While we’re on the subject of awesome Korean revenge films, I Saw the Devil is another fun one to check out.