When it was announced that Spike Lee would be remaking Park Chan-Wook’s 2003 Korean hit Oldboy, I assumed that Oldboy 2: Who You Callin’ Boy, would star a respected African-American actor as the lead, Bro Dae-Su. Instead, they went with Josh Brolin, whose character will now be named “Joe.” Don’t I feel silly.

Brolin was rumored to be on the short list, now it’s official: Brolin will topline the Mandate Pictures redo, which begins production in March. Brolin, who just wrapped Men in Black 3 with Will Smith, next begins work on Warner Bros’ Gangster Squad. It looks like he’ll squeeze in Oldboy before shooting Jason Reitman’s Labor Day opposite Kate Winslet; that movie is set to begin production in June.
The new Oldboy has script adapted by Mark Protosevich [Thor, I Am Legend], who will co-produce. |Deadline|

Meanwhile, there’s reportedly still an offer out to Christian Bale to play the villain. Brolin should be fine — he’s already worked with Oliver Stone, the white Spike Lee, twice, so by now he should be used to heavy-handed blowhards. Also, his name would make an awesome broism if it didn’t already have “bro” in it. Brose Canseco, Broseph Stalin, Maximillian Brobespierre – Josh Brolin. By Brove, it’d be perfect! But no, it came pre-broheimed. His ancestors really f*cked us on that one.