The Killer remake?

[GeneChing]

Will this generate as much hating as the Karate Kid remake (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48261)? We can only hope.
Woo's "Killer" gets a new U.S. contract (http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0832960420071008)
Mon Oct 8, 2007 3:03pm EDT
By Jonathan Landreth

BUSAN, South Korea (Hollywood Reporter) - Action director John Woo's 1989 Hong Kong classic "The Killer" will be remade in Los Angeles with a Korean star replacing Chow Yun-fat as the hard-boiled hit man.

Director John H. Lee, a Korean-American, will move the action through L.A.'s Koreatown, Chinatown and South Central, said Woo's longtime producer and partner at Lion Rock Prods., Terence Chang.

"The actor has to be Korean in this version, but also, L.A. is a character in the film," Chang said in an interview on the opening day of the four-day Asian Film Market.

"In John's original version, it doesn't really matter where the film is set, except that Hong Kong has this dragon boat festival which adds a bit of local flavor. In this remake, we will use the geography of L.A. to move the story forward."

Chang said a script was being worked on, but it was too early to reveal other details.

Director Lee told The Hollywood Reporter that he was excited about working on the remake of one of his "favorite films of all time."

"I ask myself why they chose me and whether I can top it," Lee said from Seoul on Monday. "But then I realize it's not about making it better. It's about making my own version. My strength is dealing with human emotions, austerity and elegance."

The remake of "The Killer" will be the latest in a string of Asian films to cross the Pacific to Hollywood, where Martin Scorsese earlier this year won the best director Oscar for "The Departed," a remake of the Hong Kong gangster film "Infernal Affairs."

[doug maverick]

that this film was suose to be remade back in 91 i'm glad see its getting its do. only thing is wish it could've been made with some american actors. i mean my casting would be:

johnny depp as chow yun fats character

either brad pitt or don cheadle as the cop

haley berry as the lounge singer (if you saw le samourai you'd know why)

morgan freeman as the manager/retied hitman.

christopher walken or al pacino as the mob boss.

and i would get a great director to helm it. maybe oliver stone or someone of that caleber

the reason why departed worked so well wasn't just the script the but also the cast and ofcourse the director. the question you gotta ask yourself is that if itdidn't have an all star cast and was handled by lets say brett ratner would it had been as good.

[GeneChing]

Good one, Doug. I can't get this image out of my head now - DiCaprio and Damon dancing down the street to War.

I'm such a fan of the Woo-Chow collabs that it will be hard for me to step outside of the originals to view the remakes. Strangely, I don't have that problem with Karate Kid. I guess I'm not as attached to that film.

[doug maverick]

well its again a full circle thing because the killer is a remake of a remake of an original film, and its three defferent countries:

movie: this gun for hire

year:1942

country: america

director:Frank tuttle

hitman: alan ladd

which influenced:

Movie: Le samourai

year:1967

country: France

director: jean perrie melville

hitman:aln delon

which heavily influenced

movie: the killer

year:1989

director: john woo

hitman: chow yun fat

and now you have this korean/american remake. so i won't juge it until i see it but i hope its not just degraded to an action film cause the killer was mor then that. it was like a moving painting.another good pick for the killer woul denzel washington if you seen man on fire you know that he would be good for this.

[Li Kao]

Hmm I suppose this could be a success though I kinda feel the same way as Gene in that I don't really care so much about the casting of the Karate Kid remake as I do for this one. Probably because The Killer was the 1st Woo movie I remember blowing me away and so it will always have that sentimental appeal. I think a large part of why I liked it was the charisma of Chow Yun Fat -- that can be a hard thing to replace. I'm not saying there aren't other actors capable of doing justice to the role, but the "Fat Man" really defined that role with all of the subtle emotions and facial expressions and other somewhat intangible factors that define an outstanding acting performance.

That's a pretty elite "dream" cast you listed Doug -- the movie would have to have a pretty hefty budget to support that much star power. Then again, if you got an A-list director and given the success of the Departed, it might be feasible. However, it doesn't sound like it's going to be on anywhere near the same scale.
I wonder if the unnamed Korean actor playing the lead will be someone already established or a fresh face.

It's a great movie to reimagine, but somehow I don't see it being anywhere near as good as the original. Guess we'll have to wait to see more details and of course to watch it before rendering a final judgment.

[doug maverick]

well i checked out some of this korean directors work and i gotta say i'm not that impressed. and using an unknown korean actor in the american market is not going to work. well the departed had a 90 million dollar budget and they had people who were wel known actors take small roles just o work with marty. i wish brian de palma would direct this film.

[Shaolinlueb]

i have to watch the killer agian. i remember liking hard boiled much more.

[GeneChing]

...how can any action film fan even question Hard Boiled's single shot finale? That was Woo/Chow at their finest. However I have a soft spot for the Killer too, mostly because the final scene (*SPOILER*) the two characters crawling through the fog and just missing each other, that was so sappy and overblown that it was pure and absolute genius. It's exactly what I love in those classic John Woo's. Sheer cinematic poetry overdone to a campy crisp.

Good point about Le Samourai, Doug. I totally forgot about that. I saw that after I saw Ghost Dog and enjoyed it as a source point film. I don't think I've seen This Gun For Hire. Is it good? Anyone?

[doug maverick]

plot:

Hit man Philip Raven, who's kind to children and cats, kills a blackmailer and is paid off by traitor Willard Gates in "hot" money. Meanwhile, pert entertainer Ellen Graham, girlfriend of police Lieut. Crane (who's after Raven) is enlisted by a Senate committee to help investigate Gates. Raven, seeking Gates for revenge, meets Ellen on the train; their relationship gradually evolves from that of killer and potential victim to an uneasy alliance against a common enemy.

this gun for hire is classic film noir booze broads and bullets. when you watch this you can see many elemants of modern day action films, and many tarrintino flicks as well. the acting is first rate, i watchd this after seeing le samourai the critireon edition becuse in one of the interviews with mellville he mentione this film as his source for the film. i enjoyed this film but not much other from frank tuttle who is a hit ad miss director. you should check it out, perfect for a sunday afternoon, when your doing nothing but scratching your balls on the couch waiting or the next gaem to come on.

[GeneChing]

Well, alright. I'll look for it next time I'm a'rentin... Such a positive review. :cool:

[Jimbo]

Of the Woo/Choy Yun-Fat films, I liked A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled best. I saw The Killer after much anticipation, but for whatever reason just wasn't as impressed as everyone I'd heard about it from. Still, I don't know how good a remake could be; I suppose we won't know until/if it comes out.