I SAW THE DEVIL Remake in the Works

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KIM Jee-woon’s Revenge Thriller Gets Hollywood Treatment

Hollywood continues to show an interest in original works from Korea as KIM Jee-woon’s violent 2012 revenge thriller I Saw the Devil (2010) becomes the latest in a series of Korean films to be optioned for American remake. The revamped version will come courtesy of 1984 Private Defense Contractors, the production company behind such genre fare as Dredd (2012), The Grey (2012) and Killing Them Softly (2013).

KIM’s sixth film was not a huge hit in Korea as it only attracted 1.82 million viewers but the ultra-violent cat and mouse revenge saga exported quite strongly, becoming one of the most visible Korean films of the last few years. I Saw the Devil starred CHOI Min-shik(New World [2013], Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time [2012]) as a deranged serial killer who murders the wife of an intelligence agent, played by LEE Byung-hun(Masquerade [2012], The Good, the Bad, and the Weird [2008]), who decides to exact gruesome revenge.

Recent updates of Korean films include Spike Lee’s version of PARK Chan-wook’s Old boy (2003), while retoolings of PARK’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) are in the works as well. KIM’s A Bittersweet Life (2005) was also optioned for remake last year.

No word yet on who will write, direct or star in the project.

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