Harry here... This... I just don't understand. I don't really see how this translates to the U.S. - Mexico border. There simply isn't one iota of similarity between it and the North - South Korea border. I have to admit I'm morbidly curious to see how David Franzoni even VAGUELY makes the translation work... but have to just say right up front... I feel a remake can't be even a pimple on the ass of the original. here ya go...
Better sit down for this one I know I will........
The Hollywoodreporter is reporting that David Franzoni, the guy that wrote the screenplay for Gladiator and King Arthur has obtained rights to "Joint Security Area". I couldn't read the whole article because it is for subscribers.
Hollywood Reporter
(Deep Breath)
My outrage for the Oldboy remake has been flushed down the toilet.
At least Oldboy CAN be remade. How do you even remake JSA? The scenario is so deeply korean and unlike Oldboy there really aren't any universal themes to convey.
What the hell could they make Joint Security Area into? A movie about how white people and black people should get along? Or Northerners and Southerners? Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans?
Normally this kind of ludicrous stuff would crack me up. So why am I so outraged? This isn't even about trying to remake a classic. This is a brilliant movie about South Koreans and North Koreans, how they are enemies and brothers at the same time. JSA is a study of this fascinating and heartbreaking korean dynamic. And as a Korean it offends me when some turd comes along thinking if he gets rid of all the cultural stuff and a all-caucasian cast he can remake it and make money.
I'm jumping the gun I know. But my point is why remake the movie you'll definitley have to change so much that it won't even resemble the movie your supposedly remaking? Why even get the remake rights?
Please, if you need assimilate a Park Chan Wook movie, take Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance.
ComingSoon.Net
Yup, makes perfect sense. After all we all know Americans like movies about current events like illegal immigration in Mexico as opposed to non-important events like North Korea.
"The film is a controversial drama about the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea -- using the backdrop of the U.S.-Mexico border and illegal immigration."
Alternative title to "Joint Security Area" , "Joint Where Wal-Mart gets there employees Area"?
I don't have a grudge against remakes, I have absolutley no qualms about an American remake of Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance if done well.
On a final note, whenever I watch the various evening news shows and they always go on about North Korea I always felt that the average American knews squat about North Korea except they are a psychotic nation with nuclear weapons. Which to be fair they are. But a movie like Joint Security Area would at least shows some context behind the Korean situation.
I'll end with a quote from a Variety quote from Kim Ki-Duk.
"I don't understand American remaking korean movies. If they like them so much why not just show them?"
Amen to that.
