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Fans Worry Spielberg's ‘Oldboy’ Movie Will Soften Original

by Jarrett Martineau | January 26, 2009 at 12:09 pm

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Fans of the manga "Old Boy" are worried that Hollywood mega-producer/director Steven Spielberg may 'soften' the original story's "disturbing themes" in his planned live-action movie adaptation that is set to star Will Smith.

But Smith has responded by saying that Spielberg is "not going to do anything that would be less than stunning".

This will not be the first filmic adaptation of the manga, as South Korean director Park Chan-wook released the live-action adaptation "Oldboy" in 2003, which was devastatingly uncompromising and a huge success internationally.

But Hollywood doesn't exactly have the best track record with manga and anime adaptations, so it will be interesting to see where this project is headed.

Do you think Spielberg & Smith are the right duo to adapt Oldboy for a North American audience? I have my doubts.

It’s been several months since we last heard about Steven Spielberg’s plans to adapt the popular manga “Oldboy” into a live-action film starring Will Smith, but fans of both the manga and the original live-action adaptation released in 2003 have been buzzing about whether the edgy story will be softened for American audiences.
With the film and the original manga well-known for their disturbing themes — a crucial plot point involves incest — and graphic violence, is the typically family-friendly Spielberg up to the task of staying true to the dark, violent nature of the story?

“It’s the thing that Steven was attracted to,” Smith told MTV News. “We’re working from the comic and we haven’t done anything other than talk about it. So we’ll see what happens, but he’s not going to do anything that would be less than stunning.”