William Monahan adapted Wai-keung Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs into The Departed for Martin Scorsese and the film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and garnered Scorsese his first Best Director statue. Now Monahan has turned his sights on Chan-wook Park‘s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance with Charlize Theron attached to star. Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures is producing the feature along wtih Denver & Delilah Films and CJ Entertainment.
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the third and final chapter in Park’s Vengeance trilogy which began in 2002 with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (which CJ Entertainment is also looking to remake with Di Bonaventura Pictures and Steven Schneider) and continued in 2003 with Oldboy, which Spike Lee is currently directing an American remake as I type starring Josh Brolin, Sharlto Copley, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and James Ransone.
As for Lady Vengeance, it tells the story of a woman who for reasons of her own completes a prison term for a murder she did not commit, reemerging to punish the killer, and avenge the dead.
Quoted in today’s press release Monahan says of the project, “This will be very American — and very unexpected. Park is a genius; it’s the Everest of adaptations and I’ve got blood in my teeth to do it.”
There is no word yet on a director.
If you haven’t yet sunk your teeth into Park’s Vengeance trilogy I urge you to do so, especially before a rash of remakes arrive, though I must admit I am interested to see how these all turn out.
