I thought Spike Lee‘s Oldboy would play the Midnight Madness selection at the Toronto Film Festival this year. When it didn’t I expected it to then play Fantastic Fest. When it didn’t some red flags started to fly. Why was FilmDistrict keeping it a secret?
[amz asin=”1593075685″ size=”small”]TI guess you could say they didn’t think the Toronto Festival critics would be the kind of audience to appreciate it while the Fantastic Fest crowd may be to quick to compare it to Chan-wook Park’s original adaptation. However, we are now only three weeks away from release and I can’t tell how much confidence the studio has in the picture, which just so happens to be one of my most anticipated movies of this Fall.
I’m hoping a new quote from star Josh Brolin isn’t an indicator of trouble on the horizon as he was none-too-shy about giving some thoughts on the film to Steven Zeitchik at the Los Angeles Times:
[T]he movie possesses a dark baroque quality that will likely alienate some critics and even seems to have elicited a mixed reaction in Brolin. “I do have opinions, but it’s better to bite my tongue,” he said when asked what he thought of the finished film. (The actor says he was more enamored with Lee’s earlier three-hour director’s cut that was both quieter and filled with more character-centric moments.)
This isn’t exactly a surprise as Brolin lived, breathed and suffered for the role, having spent three days in solitary confinement in preparation for his role as a man kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement without any indication of his captor’s motive only to be freed with just as much mystery behind his release. Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharlto Copley co-star.
The film hits theaters on November 27 and a new red band trailer has arrived to, hopefully, get you talking.
