It seems to always be the case that Hollywood will seek out the biggest international hits and remake them for English-speaking audiences. Sometimes, such as in the case of “The Departed,” the remake is pretty great. However, most of the time, the English-language version is a poor copy of the original. Many would say Spike Lee’s 2013 remake of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 hit, “Oldboy,” falls in the latter category. But according to Park, he has conflicting feelings about what Lee did with the source material.
Speaking to Vulture, Park Chan-wook was asked about his 2003 hit, “Oldboy.” The revenge epic is still considered by many to be one of the filmmaker’s best works and is easily his most popular release, even almost two decades after its original release. Specifically, Park was asked about whether or not he watched Spike Lee’s remake of the film.
“I did watch it, and I was left with this very curious feeling,” Park said. “The story was similar, but the little details were completely different, so it looked familiar but at the same time unfamiliar. The film itself was meant to look surreal, but I think it felt extra surreal to me as the original filmmaker.”
That’s a pretty diplomatic response, but honestly, what else do you expect him to say? Park Chan-wook has never really presented himself as a person who is willing to give some sort of hot take on a subject. Plus, you have to agree that watching someone attempt to remake one of your artistic endeavors has to be pretty surreal.
Though Lee’s remake isn’t considered nearly as good as the original, the 2013 “Oldboy” does have some fans. Over the years, people have reexamined the film and have found that it doesn’t stand up to Park’s original but there are some quality aspects to the film. It’s just that quite a bit of the story was lost in the translation and changed into something different.
Park did talk about his original. He talked about how he is viewed as a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to use extreme violence in a film, especially by people who aren’t familiar with all of his features. Park talked about the famous hallway hammer fight scene from “Oldboy” and the octopus scene, and explained his reasoning for using more shocking visuals.
“With that fight scene, I just wanted to try something different from the same old action scenes I’d seen before,” he explained. “The octopus was the result of my search for the right expression of the character’s loneliness and fatigue. I had no idea it would become such a famous scene. You never know what my next film will be. It might be more violent than ‘Oldboy.’ Who knows?”
Park Chan-wook’s latest film, “Decision to Leave,” is in theaters now.
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