Listen, for anyone wondering if Protosevich’s script was going to tailor Oldboy for more mainstream audiences, please, please understand that the violence was extremely brutal and stylized in the scene we were shown. Brolin didn’t just whack some guy in the head with a hammer, he drove the metal tool into this man’s skull, with blood gushing and brutality at a maximum. I’ll admit, I was somewhat of a skeptic when Lee was originally announced as director, but wow, if the scene that was shown during this panel is any indication of what the entire movie will subject us to, audiences will be in for one wild, twisted ride.
Speaking to Mark’s script, Michael explained what it was like reading the material for the first time. “It was a ride, it was a really fun read. Shocking. The end really just grabs you.” The ending, of course, is what most fans of the original are worried about, but Michael spoke very highly as to how it absolutely floored him. Mark of course chimed in and stated that he think’s this year’s Oldboy will have an even more suprising ending than the original, but that remains to be seen.
Mark was hounded all panel about how he dealt with pleasing the “haters,” any pressures he received from studios to water down material for wider audience appeal, and his take on Oldboy, but the writer stuck true to his guns. “Oh we’re just as psychologically screwed up,” said Mark. “I dare you to find someone after watching the first film who says, ‘We’re gonna clean up on this!'” His is a great point because Chan-wook’s Oldboy is heavily reliant on action sequences, impactful brutality, and one man’s crazy journey for revenge. If studios are smart enough, they wouldn’t downsize the one thing such a movie was based on, and Mark assured us there wasn’t a single restriction put on his creative process, saying, “[There was] none at all. This isn’t a big studio movie. This had the sprit of an independent production.”