Hollywood to remake ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance’

Famed director Park Chan-wook’s 2002 film “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” will get a Hollywood makeover, according to CJ Entertainment.

The film is the first part of Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy,” which also includes “Oldboy” (2003) and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (2005). Hollywood remakes are already planned for the other two films in the series.

According to CJ Entertainment, it has signed a deal with Silver Reel and Lotus Entertainment and Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s di Bonaventura Pictures to create the English-language remake of the film. Brian Tucker, who wrote the 2013 Hollywood crime thriller “Broken City,” will be writing the script.

The 2002 film tells the bleak tale of a deaf-mute who kidnaps a young girl to pay for his sister’s much-needed kidney transplant. When the girl dies, her father goes on a desperate and angry search for the kidnapper and seeks revenge.

Compared to “Oldboy” and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” the movie did not do well at the box office, but it received a good response from cineastes and critics at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, the remake of “Oldboy,” directed by “Do the Right Thing” and “Love & Basketball” director Spike Lee, is scheduled to be released in North America in October.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)