If you were holding out hope for the upcoming remake of John Woo’s 1989 crime drama “The Killer,” then you may be sad to find out that Academy Award-winning Lupita Nyong’o is no longer attached to the project. This comes from Woo himself, who also pledged his support to Martin Scorsese in the coming Marvel vs Cinema civil war.
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Deadline reports that the acclaimed director shared the news at the Hawaii International Film Festival where he received the festival’s Halekulani Lifetime Achievement Award. According to Woo, the remake is still happening, and he is still looking to cast a woman as the lead in this gender-flipped remake of his classic film starring Chow Yun-fat, only it won’t be Nyong’o.
“There was a scheduling problem because she’s so popular right now!” said Woo about Nyong’o. “We rewrote the script and it took so much time…she had to leave for another project. The biggest reason why I wanted to do this movie again because [I wanted] ‘the killer’ to be a woman — that’s exciting to me. It will make the movie have a different look.”
Woo also addressed the news that Paramount was interested in rebooting his 1997 Nicolas Cage and John Travolta-film “Face/Off.” Woo simply said that he wasn’t aware of the studio’s wishes to rebooting his film and he won’t be involved, though he apparently is glad the project is being made as he himself suggested a sequel some time ago.
Lastly, no interview with a big-time director can end without asking about Marvel and superhero movies. When asked if he would ever do a superhero movie, Woo talked about how he once turned down the late Stan Lee after the comic creator approached him to do a superhero film in the pre-MCU era.
“I don’t have that gift,” he admitted. “I’m not a sci-fi guy — I don’t think I could make a good one. There’s so much imagination… I don’t think I can reach that level.”
Then Woo expressed his opinion on the whole Marvel debate, and pledged his metaphorical sword to Scorsese’s army. According to the Deadline article, Woo said “I’m concerned about when these movies get more and more popular, I’m afraid it will make young audiences get lost when it comes to knowledge about film,” he said, adding that these movies have become the standard for younger audiences and that they won’t have the desire to study or watch what Mr. Scorsese refers to as “real cinema” such as Lawrence of Arabia, Mean Streets, A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey.”
