It ain’t easy being the guy who opts to remake Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy. Back at New York Comic Con, Oldboy scribe Mark Protosevich took the stage and even though the footage shown was well received, he still got slammed with question after question regarding why he’d even try to remake the cult classic and how he could possibly do that original film justice. Protosevich’s version swaps Min-sik Choi’s Dae-su Oh for a new main man, Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin). Like, Dae-su, Joe is kidnapped and locked away for years until he’s unexpectedly released and then tasked with the challenge of finding out why he was imprisoned to begin with.

While talking to Protosevich during Oldboy’s New York press day, we opted to nix repeating that same question and rather find out how Protosevich feels about repeatedly answering it. Check out what he had to say about his own skepticism regarding an Oldboy remake before he was even attached to the project, the need to block out fan expectations while writing, the challenge of maintaining an element of surprise for fans of the original, the status of Edgar Wright's Collider, and more after the jump.

Mark Protosevich:

  • On his initial doubts about remaking the film.
  • Sticking with the project even after Will Smith and Steven Spielberg departed.
  • His thoughts on remakes in general.
  • Upholding the big twist for fans of the original.
  • The status of Collider.

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