Spike Lee
Oldboy

09/11/2011

At a time when remarkable and unique cases, lively characters, or other ideas were in short supply, the producers at Mandate Pictures hired Spike Lee to propose a remake of a Korean film, Old Boy. After several months of work, Spike knocked on the door of his financiers to pitch his ideas.

Oldboy

- Gentlemen, it's a tale of revenge, if you will, there's this mysterious kidnapping… - Spike Lee began with enthusiasm - After the release, there will be an investigation by the kidnapped who will be engaged by the kidnapper in a subtle treasure hunt through the intricacies of their past; so, gradually, in the end, everything will be clearer, understandable, but terr..

- Excuse me, Mr. Lee, I apologize for interrupting you, - said one of the producers - but this film worries us a little. The audience needs some cardinal points to navigate…

Spike listened to him surprised and astonished.

- Listen to me, - the man continued decisively - the doctor here will outline the guidelines for the content of this production"

- Follow me closely, Mr. Lee – began the doctor, beautiful and aloof:

• The ending isn't right: once the shocking truth is discovered, the protagonist MUST separate from the girl.
• Insert a final speech
• It's good that the antagonist is an unattractive young man... unlike in the Korean film.
• It's good that in our film the protagonist had a past as the coolest kid in school and was a bad bully; it's good that he then redeems himself during the story.
• …

Although perplexed, Spike agreed.

So, some time later, having read the script and seen the premiere, the former Oh Dae-Su, protagonist of the story, was not happy about the fate assigned to him since, in the film signed by Spike Lee, he had assumed the name and appearance of Joe Doucett. So he decided to pay a visit to an old acquaintance.

From the Diary of Park Chan-Wook.

07/27/2016

...As a habit, until a few years ago, every Sunday morning, I would listen to the characters of my past, present, and future stories.

Once a week, from 9 to 1, I would meet the most eccentric and new people, entangled in the most peculiar, violent, and terrible cases that have ever happened or been told, with whom it was tough work to chat.

Exactly three years ago, on the last of those mornings, when it was already 12:30, I heard a commotion coming from the waiting room; a clamor as hadn't happened in years. He had come to visit me again on a busy day, in which a crowd of strange characters, protagonists of brand new cases, were waiting for me, an old acquaintance: an irascible and determined Oh Dae-Su, needed to talk to me…

• Well - I shouted - what is all this noise? What's happening? And you, Mr. Oh Dae-Su, don't you think you've been here with me enough. What do you want?
• Don't push me away, please, don't push me away! Listen to me for five more minutes. I remember well how painful those meetings were, for me and for you: the anguish and how many tears while you investigated my past.
• Yes, so? What else can I do for you? Don't you think I've done justice, with my film, to you, your story, and our meetings. You don't know how hard those months were for me. I lost sleep, I lost myself and my loved ones behind your story: Now enough!
• Enough? Oh no, not yet! - Oh Dae-Su replied - I was yours, and in the end, you left me to the first American that came along?
• The first that came along? I entrusted you to one of the best, to Spike Lee, but do you know who he is? What fault is it of mine if things went awry for you, I was sure I had struck a good deal, for you and for me. Isn't it so? What do you want me to do? I can't do anything more!
• So seriously you don't care about the misfortune that has befallen me? I had the privilege of being born a character, thus destined for immortality, I was; a bit Oedipus and a bit Count of Monte Cristo: but I've fallen into those hands: now I'm doomed to live forever in an artificial way in a world that doesn't belong to me. I don't complain about the living person who played my character: Josh Brolin was good. However, however, however... I, who had, in a very particular way, my exceptional story, found myself with a past completely overturned. You remember, don't you, that the inexplicable 15-year imprisonment I was subjected to was linked to an incident in my past: you wouldn't believe it, Mr. Lee reduced me to a pathetic bully from an American college: a reproduction of a reproduction! I wasn't a looker and the mocking laughter, well, they didn't belong to me. I talked too much, yes, but not like that...
• I've already told you, Mr. Oh Dae-Su…
• Please - he interrupted me - let me finish… do you remember then my tormentor: he has also changed. Do you know who he was? Adrian Doyle Price: the poorest-looking, poor fellow, student in school. Yet wealthy. How could I now show the ambiguity of my feeling for him: the fascination and the thirst for revenge! My story has lost too many nuances…
• ...such pessimism! I'm sure the rest of the film pleased you! Cheer up, Oh Dae-su!
• Yes, the rest is fine, it does justice to my story. However, that ending is degrading… please, stop the film's release, it is not necess...

He interrupted me again, but it was 1 o'clock by then. So I closed the office and left him there inside, along with my soul which I abandoned for a few years: a wagon-load of million-dollars allowed me to live peacefully without...