It seems to be the day for production sto eye up potential stars and the info to be revealed even though it doesn’t appear the actors are yet in talks for the films. Reports have surfaced the Spike Lee, who was recently revealed to be directing a remake of Oldboy, wants Josh Brolin to star, while Jose Padilha Robocop do-over is hoping to land Chris Pine.
Twitchfilm has the news on both (and it is currently unconfirmed, although the site did scoop Spike Lee’s hiring) and says that Mandate Pictures wants Josh Brolin for the lead role in the Oldboy remake. He’d be a great choice as a man is inexplicably kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. He is then abruptly released, only for a mysterious person to contact him, teasing information about his long confinement. This sets off much violence and revenge, as past sins are brought to light and the man tries to get back at those who wronged him. It’s being suggested this will be a remake in the vein of The Departed, which did indeed depart significantly from the original (it was based on the Hong Kong flick Infernal Affairs), but kept the basic plot and ideas.
As for Robocop, while a few months ago the likes of Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, and Keanu Reeves were being rumoured for the lead, now it’s Chris Pine as MGM apparently wants to go younger with the role, although no offer has been made to him yet. He’d play the cop who gets gunned down and then rebuilt into a half-man, half-machine crime fighting wonder. However the real question is whether Pine will want to do it, as this is obviously being set up as a franchise, and with Star Trek and a potential series of Jack Ryan movies already in the works, will he want to tie himself to another franchise?