Scott Free Eyeing Potential THE WAILING Remake

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Scott Free Eyeing Potential THE WAILING Remake

Jan 31, 2017

Writer by Pierce Conran
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FIP Korea’s KIM Ho-sung Reveals Details of Early Talks

NA Hong-jin’s critical and commercial smash THE WAILING is being eyed up for a potential US remake. Fox International Productions (FIP) Korea is in talks with Scott Free, the production banner of acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott, to develop an English-language version of the horror-thriller.

KIM Ho-sung, the head of FIP Korea, revealed to Screen Daily last week that they had been contacted by a Scott Free executive, who cited the film’s similarity to horror classics The Exorcist, The Ring and Seven, about the possibility of doing a remake. However, KIM stated that: “The locality and sensibility of THE WAILING is so strong that I don’t think it would be easy to do a Western remake, and it will be important who directs it. So I told him I think the only director who could do the remake is NA Hong-jin.”

THE WAILING, which concerns the mystery around a series of grisly deaths that occur in a small rural town after the arrival of a stranger, debuted Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival last year and screened around the world, after collecting almost seven million admissions in Korea.

KIM, who first mentioned the possibility of the remake when he accepted the Best Film Award for THE WAILING from the Korean Film Reporters’ Association (KOFRA) on January 19th, said that the talks are still in an early stage and he recognizes that several previous remake projects haven’t made it to production.

Following the global success of THE WAILING, KIM revealed that discussions are taking place about whether the next FIP Korea film The Proxy Soldiers, which wrapped production in January, might be distributed directly by 20th Century Fox in Korea.

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