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I really like Gareth EvansThe Raid. It’s one of the best action films of the 21st century, the fight scenes are mind-blowing, and it’s got a really strong, lean structure that helps carry the set pieces and characters. It’s not a deep movie, but it’s an incredibly well made one. And yet what makes The Raid stand out—its action—is incredibly hard to emulate. To make a U.S. version of The Raid would seemingly lose what made The Raid special in the first place.

Last week, we learned that The Grey writer-director Joe Carnahan and producing partner/actor Frank Grillo had come on board to the U.S. “reimagining” of The Raid (calling it a remake or reimagining is kind of unimportant because neither one conveys the details of the project; for brevity, I’m referring to it as a remake). Carnahan is writing the script and planning to direct, and Grillo, who’s co-producing with Carnahan and XYZ Films, will star in the film.

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Steve Weintraub spoke with Carnahan and Grillo earlier this week for an exclusive conversation about The Raid remake, and after learning how they got involved with the project, they explained how their version will differ from the original. Simply put, Carnahan and Grillo don’t want to make a highly-choreographed picture in the vein of Evans’ movie or John Wick. Instead, they want their picture, which will build a deeper story with regards to the two brothers and their father, to highlight “The Walking Wounded.”:

JOE CARNAHAN: What Frank and I both cotton to is this idea of special operators. Special forces operation guys often times like football players. They’re never 100%. Soft tissue damage in their hands, radial fractures, knees are shot, this and that. So this idea you’re catching a guy who is compelled to go after his brother after he just got his ass kicked in a completely different operation. You’re getting a guy who’s like the walking wounded. So you’re immediately plugging in to this very mortal, very human, everybody’s been hurt, everybody’s tweaked their back; in fact, more people have an affinity and an understanding of that situation than being this completely physically fit monster that doesn’t feel pain

They see their characters not as indestructible martial arts masters, but more in the mold of special ops soldiers or football players. Specifically, these guys play hurt. No one is at 100%. They’re all dealing with injury, they tape it up, rub some dirt on it, play at 80%, and go do their job.

When you have these kinds of characters, the complexion of the movie changes. For Carnahan and Grillo, they want the entire film to feel like the “knife fight between Adam Goldberg and the German in Saving Private Ryan.” They want that knock-down, drag-out, deeply uncomfortable brutality.

CARNAHAN: There’s a level of brutality, a level of violence. If our movie felt like the knife fight between Adam Goldberg and the German in Saving Private Ryan the entirety of the movie, then we’ve done exactly what we need to do. Something that grueling and tough.

 

FRANK GRILLO: You want to look away but you can’t.

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Which, leads to the next question: Why not just make a new movie that isn’t called The Raid and avoid the comparisons? As Carnahan and Grillo explain, as much as they and fellow cinephiles love the original, most people have not seen The Raid:

GRILLO: Many Americans, most Americans, have never seen The Raid before.

 

CARNAHAN: By the way, Smokin' Aces is about an assault on a penthouse with a bunch of crazy people fighting their way up to the top.  That was six years before The Raid was made.  So it's not like these are things that don't interest me. I can show you a pattern. I dig that kind of an idea.

 

GRILLO: And I'll tell you something that bothers me.  When people say you're doing to do "The Hollywood Version" of The Raid--

 

CARNAHAN: Or whitewash it.

 

GRILLO: First of all, we're not the Hollywood version of anything. We come through the back door all the time. I'm not Tom Cruise. I'm not the Hollywood version.  I'm not knocking Tom Cruise, but he's Tom Cruise. He gets to do whatever he wants. So my point is we don't have to do this.  We can do anything we want to do. We want to do this because there's something we see that we want to show to American audiences, and audiences globally. Many people have not seen The Raid.

 

CARNAHAN: Among cinephiles, it's a beloved film. But people in Des Moines, Iowa have not seen The Raid.

The numbers back them up. According to Box Office Mojo, The Raid: Redemption made less than $5 million worldwide at the box office. So the concept of a special forces team going into a building run by criminals to take down the mastermind is one that will feel fresh to the majority of audiences. Secondly, if Carnahan and Grillo did decide to call it something other than The Raid, people would inevitably complain, “They just ripped off The Raid!”

And as for where the remake will take place, Carnahan has pegged Caracas, Venezuela:

CARNAHAN: [It's set in] Caracas. Because Caracas is a madhouse. It’s almost like a safehouse for bad guys, like they built this block in Caracas because this is where you come to do business and no one will fuck with you. Because it’s such a dangerous place, nobody wants to go in there. Again, it’s heightening elements of The Raid that were already there, I’m taking these story elements and kind of weaponizing them. Just giving them a shot of steroids, because again everything is about zagging—where The Raid zigged, we’ll zag.

But in addition to the action, Carnahan has zeroed his focus on the heart of the film, which is a story of two brothers:

CARNAHAN: It’s a very different relationship with the brothers, because their father is a very centrifugal figure in this thing. Without getting too deep into it it’s all about the idea that a man is able to create the version of himself that surpasses himself, but one of them sees him for what he really is which is not this world beater. It’s the opposite of—you know Liam Neeson has that line in The Grey of “My dad saw weakness everywhere,” it’s that guy, but he is weak. So the argument between these two brothers, the split between them, is about their dad. He built these things that are superior and that are real soldiers, but he’s not that. You bought that line, I didn’t buy that line. I went my way and you went your way.

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Carnahan and Grillo are going about their remake in the right way. They’ve got Gareth Evans’ blessing:

GRILLO: We've had two-hour conversations with Gareth.  He says, "Go make your version. I want to see your version."

 

CARNAHAN: This is Gareth, who made two brilliant films saying, "I'm most excited to see what you guys are going to do with it." Which is the best.

 

GRILLO: And talking to Gareth first was very important to him and I.  Let's talk to him.  Does he want this movie?

 

CARNAHAN: Because if he had shut it down...

 

GRILLO: We were done.

Iko Uwais, who starred in both Raid movies, would like to be involved in some capacity:

GRILLO: I did a movie with Iko. I'm friends with Iko. Iko may be in this movie. We don't know... So Iko and I did a movie in Indonesia last year.  It's a big kind of sci-fi movie, and I don't know where it's going to come out, when it's going to come out, but Iko and I became best friends. We became brothers. And he's my boy.  When he heard this, he reached out to immediately and said, "Is there a place for me in the movie?" This is the guy who originated the role, and was the star in both movies--it's a film that everyone wants to be involved in, even the guy who is the guy.  So maybe.  Joe said maybe there's a world where he's one of the other guys.  Who knows.

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

They want to make the movie for under $20 million, and they’re doing the script on spec (meaning no studio is paying them to write this):

CARNAHAN: We're going to do this for under $20 million, which is about as down and dirty as you can get, but there's no studio.  It's us.

 

GRILLO: And by the way, he's already started writing the script.

And they’re going to take their profits on the back-end, meaning they only make money if the film makes money:

CARNAHAN: We're not taking any money up front to do the movie.  We're going to take everything on the back.  We'll bet on ourselves. And if that doesn't work and if that doesn't satisfy people's cynicism, then I got nothing else.

To put it another way, if you think that an English-language version of The Raid is a cheap cash-in, there are easier ways to make money, especially for Carnahan and Grillo. They’re doing this because they’re fans and because they have a take that they believe is worth doing.

And although Carnahan is busy at the moment readying Bad Boys 3 and scripting Uncharted, he says they're aiming to get The Raid going as soon as possible:

CARNAHAN: I mean listen, [we're doing it] as soon as possible. We have to always, Frank and I, we have to act as though the thing that we’re talking about doing now we’re doing next. And I’m writing the script right now, so I want it to go ASAP.

There are some changes that feel innocuous, like moving the setting from Jakarta, Indonesia to Caracas, Venezuela. There are others, like deepening the relationship between the brothers and their father, which could yield a more emotional and thoughtful movie. And then there’s the question of whether or not this “walking wounded” approach to action will be a nice change of pace in the current action landscape that’s dominated by expert choreograph and CGI blockbusters.

Carnahan and Grillo have earned my trust from their past work, and as you can see from the video above, they’re genuinely excited for what this new version could be. This isn’t a studio dropping a title into the lap of a journeyman director and telling them to get some bankable name to go through the motions. This isn’t “the Hollywood version” of The Raid. Carnahan and Grillo have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish, and I hope that it comes together.

What do you think about Carnahan and Grillo's take on The Raid? Sound off in the comments.

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics
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Image via Sony Pictures
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Image via Sony Pictures Classics