Hany Abu-Assad will direct the English-language remake of “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” the Park Chan-Wook film that kicked off the South Korean filmmaker’s “Vengeance Trilogy,” an individual with knowledge of the project has told TheWrap.
Silver Reel, Lotus Entertainment, di Bonaventura Pictures and CJ Entertainment are refashioning the film in English based on a script by “Broken City” writer Brian Tucker. The original film follows a deaf-mute man whose attempt to pay for his sister’s kidney transplant spawns a series of violent encounters.
Abu-Assad just won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for “Omar” and is best known for his 2006 film “Paradise Now.” That movie, about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel, won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for a 2006 Oscar.
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The next big step for this remake is securing top talent for the lead roles, a hunt that has already begun.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing the film for di Bonaventura while Jiwon Park is producing for EJ Entertainment. Claudia Bluemhuber, Bill Johnson, Jim Seibel, Jacob Pechenik and Gero Bauknecht are executive producers while D.J. Gugenheim is overseeing the project for Silver Lotus and Ed Fee is overseeing it for di Bonaventura.
After “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” Chan-Wook made “Oldboy” and “Lady Vengeance.” Spike Lee has already remade “Oldboy,” which will open in theaters this October.
Abu-Assad will now take his shot at remaking Chan-Wook, who just made Stoker. Abu-Assed. is represented by CAA, which made the initial deal for the remake.