Bill MelidoneasDecember 8, 20110

Twitch Twitch reports that Colin Firth has turned down the villain role in Spike Lee’s OLDBOY remake. While I loved Firth for the role it would have been a drastic departure from the original film. Of course that could be Lee’s intent to give a Nolan type remake / reboot treatment by making his film a departure from the 2003 Korean version. The intent was for the script to stay more faithful to the manga series of books but the age difference seemed a weird flip. In the original film the actor who played by the villain was 14 yrs younger than the actor portraying the lead role while with this potential pair of actors Brolin in the lead role would is 8 yrs younger than the villain which would definitely skewer this film into different territory and I’m not sure how the plot of the film would have held up.

So, while losing an Oscar winning actor of Firth’s caliber from a project is never a good thing it might be a better idea to find a younger actor who fits the age dynamic that made the original film a masterpiece. If an actor like Ryan Gosling (or even someone like Ben Foster) was willing to go for the role I think that would be nearly perfect. My hunch is after both Rooney Mara and Oscar winner Colin Firth turning down prime roles in the film that might be a tell-tale sign the projects stinks just a little bit.