They’ve been talking about remaking THE KILLER for over two decades now, originally with a script written by Walter Hill and eventually with a John Woo-produced, 3D incarnation directed by South Korean-born director John H. Lee. In an interview with Screen Daily he discussed his follow-ups to his two-part epic THE CROSSING: first, a Japanese film called MANHUNT (an adaptation of Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa o Watare, which was already filmed in 1976), to be followed an English-language remake of his 1989 masterpiece.
”I still enjoy working with Hollywood. I still have a couple of projects developing in Hollywood, so after MANHUNT, I probably will go back to Hollywood to make another action thriller. I’m going to make THE KILLER in an American version.”
Now, that wording is certainly vague, but if we’re assuming that Lee has moved on in the four-and-a-half years since his involvement was first announced, then there’s no director attached, leaving the seat open for Woo…if he wants it. He seems to be taking, at minimum, an active, on-set producer role, one that would require his physical presence in La-La-Land, and while his use of the word “make” could be chalked up to his imperfect English, it certainly implies that he’s taking a hands-on role in whatever is going down.
Could John Woo actually return to the themes and visual tropes that made him an international superstar with a remake of one of his own classics? Well, he had this to say about MANHUNT:
“It’s a bit like going back to my own style. It’s a criminal story, with love and guns – and maybe some pigeons.”
Certainly gives you hope, don’t it?
While its story is fairly straightforward and universal (a hitman cares for a passerby he accidentally blinded, while being pursued by a dogged cop), it’s questionable whether the violent operatics and no-bullshit sincerity of Woo’s original film can translate to a contemporary American actioner. Hell, Woo himself had a hell of a time with the MPAA on the American projects he did direct, and those didn’t have quite the bloodletting of Woo’s most iconic HK films. He hasn’t done anything even remotely close to THE KILLER since MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II, so my gut tells me he still wants to just produce and get someone else to handle the squibs, freeze-frames, and pigeons. But the idea of him sitting in the director’s chair for the remake is possibly the only thing that could get me excited about it, and I pray he’s either totally onboard or actively considering it.
Would you guys be cool with a Woo-directed KILLER remake, or should they just let it be?
