Colin Firth Offered The Role Of The Villain Adrian In Spike Lee's 'Oldboy'

News

by Kevin Jagernauth
November 11, 2011 4:41 PM
6 Comments

So is regal, respectable, Oscar-winning Colin Firth ready to dirty up that nice guy image? It seems so. He was long attached to Park Chan-wook's English language feature "Stoker" as the baddie before he had to drop out, however, the blockbuster movie world is largely foreign to the actor. So this could be a huge switch up. The key word here is "could."

With Josh Brolin still the only name signed on so far, Spike Lee and the studio are looking to find his antagonist and have floated an offer over to "The King's Speech" star for the part of Adrian in the upcoming remake of "Oldboy." For those of you playing catchup, he's the man who sets up the calculated string of events that sends our protagonist (played by Brolin), hurtling toward the film's haunting and shocking finale, and we have to say, a Firth/Brolin showdown directed by Lee? Sounds pretty badass.

Penned by Mark Protosevich, the remake is using both the Korean film and the Japanese book as the basis for his script, so there may be shifting story details between this version and the beloved take by the aforementioned Park Chan-wook. Would be a touch ironic if Firth bounced from "Stoker" only to star in "Oldboy" but stranger things have happened we suppose. And in case you forgot, Rooney Mara was also offered a role, but turned it down and as it turns out, she'll be too busy hanging with Terrence Malick shooting "Lawless" anyway.

No release date has been set for "Oldboy" just yet, filming is expected to start early next year. [Twitch]

News

More: Colin Firth, Oldboy (Remake)

6 Comments

| Reply
jingmei | November 13, 2011 1:51 AMReply

Many youths appreciate Oldboy a lot, it's deserved of being shooted into a hollywood version.
Mike | November 12, 2011 6:19 PMReply

How is this a potential blockbuster? It's an ultraviolent oppression cum revenge story directed by Spike Lee, doesn't sound like Saturday morning matinee or even senior citizen Sunday afternoon cinema to me.
scarabeo | November 12, 2011 7:40 AMReply

Colin Firth has already acted in bad boy, twisted roles: Apartment Zero ( monumental acting), Trauma, Where the truth lies, Master of the Moore ... even in Shakespeare in Love he is the villain...
Kim | November 12, 2011 1:19 AMReply

I like the cast, I like the idea of Spike Lee and Brolin.... But the original movie scared the crap out of me!
Piotr | November 11, 2011 5:08 PMReply

Wasn't he connected to Brian De Palma's Toyer a long, long time ago? That would have been a wonderful collaboration. That should still happen. What's going on with De Palma anyway?
Madam Gaga | November 11, 2011 4:58 PMReply

I hope Colin Firth does more American mainstream movies from now on.