With Park Chan-wook successfully trying his hand at English-language filmmaking in Stoker, Hollywood continues to make doe-eyes at his South Korean back catalogue. Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, part one of his Vengeance trilogy, is next to be prepped for a US remake.
Deadline reports that Hollywood heavyweights Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are steering an English-language remake to the big screen. Broken City scribe Brian Tucker will be translating the story into an American setting.
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, 2003's precursor to **Oldboy **and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, was a bloody and brutal opening salvo for a hammer-wielding trilogy that would end up terrifying octopuses everywhere. Its deaf-mute protagonist - we'd be loath to use the word 'hero' - resorts to abduction, black-marketeering and violence to secure an organ transplant for his ailing sister.
While there are no common plot threads between the three films, it will still be interesting to see if this new Mr. Vengeance and Spike Lee's long-awaited **Oldboy **cohere stylistically, and whether, indeed, Lady Vengeance joins them in getting the Hollywood redo. In the meantime, post your choice of director for this one below.