Crime thriller Hwayi to get a Hollywood remake
by javabeans
Another Chungmuro property has been snapped up for a Hollywood remake, and this time it’s the dark thriller Hwayi: Boy Who Swallowed a Monster (also called A Monster Boy), which stars Yeo Jin-gu as a youngster raised by a group of criminals.
The remake of Hwayi will be handled differently than previous Korea-to-Hollywood remakes, in that the original Korean producers will retain some of the rights rather than signing them all away, and will participate in the remake as co-producers. I find that promising.
There’s a general consensus in Chungmuro that despite being happy about foreign interest in Korean works, most of the remakes have failed and been overly muddled by the Hollywood process, which is why the Hwayi producers were keen not to follow in those footsteps. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lee Jun-dong, the CEO of the production company that made Hwayi, said, “We have decided to take part in the production as a collaborator in order to ensure the quality of the remake, rather than simply handing over the storyline.”
There are some strong names attached to the remake project, such as Frida Torresblanco, who was a producer of 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, who spoke with Korean producers at the Cannes Film Festival. I tend to regard all East-to-West remakes pessimistically, but keeping the original creatives as part of your team seems like a step in the right direction—at least there’s a show of respect for the initial vision.
Via Ten Asia, Hollywood Reporter
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1 crazedlu
May 24, 2014 at 3:23 PM
Fist pump to the show of respect. Hollywood makeovers most always take from the story. Hope it turns out well.
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2 Unnursvana
May 24, 2014 at 3:38 PM
idk what I feel about this. Can't they just watch things with subtitles over there like the rest of us?
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Rebecca
May 24, 2014 at 10:16 PM
People always like to put their own spin on things. Koreans could have been satisfied with the Japanese (original) version of Boys Before Flowers, or even the Taiwanese version. How about the Korean versions of other Japanese originals like To the Beautiful You, or Playful Kiss, or many others? Why is it ok for Koreans to do their own versions of Japanese or American shows (Couple or Trouble), but it is not ok for Americans to do their own versions of Korean shows?
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lucille
May 25, 2014 at 2:08 PM
At last a sensible person. I am not arbebe regarding holliwood nor am I slanted towards the usa. But for christ sakes enough of the bias against holliwood and the us. To the masses how many series and movies have been plagarized by the east, rearranged to suit the east? There is nothing that will be remade by the west without serious changes. For ex. Will anyone in the west understand blindly following elders even if u know they are wrong, should I continue with the reasons. Sometimes I read these comments and I feel embarass fot the people who apparently only just got the internet and realized that there is such a place as the east and that they also make movies and series for tv and to pretend that they have'arriven' everything west is bad. Grow up. Remember the west is fickle and money driven, and most do not like subtittles, remember anime and kungfu movies?The hoopla will die down people will move on to something else, even you johhny come lately. Kdrama as
did kmovies will have a nitch and then it will be someone elses turn. Stop making fools of yourselves. Seriously.
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j18
May 26, 2014 at 12:55 AM
What people don't know is that most Americans don't watch films or dramas that are subbed. Worst, they don't even watch films with Asian actors as lead and production companies even refuses to cast an Asian as lead actors because of the issue with english accent. What more is a film with subtitle Americans won't definitely watch it.
It is sort of like inferiority and superiority complex. People conception that one is better than the other.
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yahnati
May 26, 2014 at 2:18 PM
Most people anywhere will choose dubs over subs just out of laziness.
It doesn't help that even for those of us that DO prefer subtitles and WOULD go see these movies... hell, for me it's a 3 hour drive to the nearest city that regularly carries a subtitled foreign film (the fancy expensive 'indie' theatre in town might pick one up once every few months but seems to mostly play American indie movies alongside the standard blockbuster fare), and the city I live in is a major university town with a population of a quarter million people.
asha
June 14, 2015 at 6:35 AM
I agree with u .... just the fact that the movie was epic and the story was so cool and thrilling ,they wanna put their hands in and produce a remake ...same with "oldboy" which turned to be a total fail in Hollywood ..
and no bias in that !! its a fact ...and for Asians adapt stories from each others ..well the originals are somehow all of them are "mangas" and never showed to the outer world just because of the jap. series ,they were there before that ,and pretty famous among Asians ..so they adapted the manga not the SERIES ..while here they only knew about the story cuz they watched the movie and were WAWing and went like:why dont we remake it -_-
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3 Kaybee
May 24, 2014 at 4:07 PM
One of the best films I have seen lately. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Just one glitch (few more but negligible), the back story of the woman who raises Hwayi is confusing. She has a good role but it has not been treated well. She is a mother figure to Hwayi and someone who treats him well after her husband and the smart one. Her husband is the kindest one after the educated/ smart one among all the fathers so it is a character flaw to have him treat his wife as a slave and so poorly. Also I don't get it whey they had her in chains in the beginning and also why the main bad father chopped off her toes.
Also can someone help me... is Hwayi's real mother, the one the bad father raped in the orphanage?
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Javabeans
May 24, 2014 at 4:10 PM
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS.
READ THIS THREAD AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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Kaybee
May 25, 2014 at 11:37 PM
Mian-hye-yo~ Sometimes I just assume that people might have seen it already or they don't mind knowing the story (a bit if not all) before hand because I do tend to search for reviews and recaps of films and dramas to decide whether to watch it or not. I hope I didn't reveal much and spoil it for others...
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Dam
May 24, 2014 at 4:25 PM
Hwayi's mom is the wife of hwayi's first kill. Those were his parents. And the woman who raised him who was chained up in the beginning was because she was kidnapped and held against her will. Hwayi's bio dad and the main bad dad who kidnapped him grew up together in a orphanage as well as the kidnapped girl. Lol u following this? Well hwayi's bio dad and the girl were together, But the main bad dad liked the girl as well, but couldnt get her plus he hated hwayi's bio dad cuz he got everything. So he raped her and kept her hostage ever since. Hope this helped lol
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Kaybee
May 24, 2014 at 5:30 PM
Thanks... I got those parts actually. I just wished they showed a bit more on the woman who raised Hwayi. I know that Hwayi killed his bio dad and he saved his bio mom from hanging herself and got her to the hospital but I am not sure if she is the one from the orphanage whom the bad dad/ villain raped.
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Hello
May 24, 2014 at 9:35 PM
I also thoroughly enjoyed this movie. But actually, I think there are 2 possible interpretations. The first one you wrote about above and the second one:
Hwayi's good dad (the pastor dad) and the woman from the orphanage liked each other but the bad dad got jealous and chopped off the pastor dad's legs off (horrible guy)...
Then he proceeded to rape the woman from the orphanage and got her illegitimately pregnant...she had the baby (who is Hwayi) but due to her young age, the pastor dad adopted the baby and started to raise Hwayi with his wife as their own son.
Hwayi was kidnapped by the bad dad and there on goes the story...
But the real killer point about all this is that Hwayi believed the pastor dad to be his biological dad...but in actuality the bad dad was his real dad (bc he got that woman from the orphanage pregnant)!! So Hwayi's real parents are actually the bad dad and the woman from the orphanage (the enslaved one)...Hwayi killed his biological dad.....
This is one interpretation I've seen on the korean forum boards about the story...it is up the audience to personally decide which interpretation they like more
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March
May 24, 2014 at 11:11 PM
Hmm that makes sense... That's why at the end the bad dad can't seem to kill hwayi. Love this movie. My 6 year old son peeked a couple of times to watch the movie with me and he ended up running away so fast. He told to me to stop watching the movie because it's scary. Bad mom :)
S
May 25, 2014 at 9:44 AM
Seriously guys?
Spoilers are not cool.
Gabby
May 26, 2014 at 10:08 PM
Argh. I just started watching this movie online yesterday, but wasn't that far in. Please include spoiler warnings next time (I didn't see javabeans's disclaimer in time!).
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4 Dam
May 24, 2014 at 4:25 PM
SPOILER ALERT~
Too late hu..
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5 Kim
May 24, 2014 at 6:26 PM
Andwaeeeee! Just release the movie in the US with subtitles....
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6 dearly
May 24, 2014 at 7:23 PM
Love this film and Yeo Jin Goo did his role perfectly not to mention the dads as well. I'm a bit scared of the Hollywood remake. Usually, Hollywood does a poorly job at executing it (i.e. Old Boy). I just hope they can get a very excellent casts like the Korean version.
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7 pogo
May 24, 2014 at 9:39 PM
ok, the producers have some degree of control so that should be a good thing.....I hope to god this doesn't turn out as awful as the My Sassy Girl remake.
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8 Kestrel
May 24, 2014 at 10:08 PM
Not all East/West remakes are terrible. Oldboy was, by all accounts, but The Departed, which was based on the middle chapter of Infernal Affairs, is one of the best films of the last decade or so. It just depends on what kind of script they put together and what kind of talent the project can attract.
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j18
May 24, 2014 at 10:27 PM
LOL. I also mentioned the same film. At least I'm not the only one who thinks that all Hollywood remakes are terrible. I also find the David Fincher's version of The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo as good.
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9 j18
May 24, 2014 at 10:10 PM
If handled by the right production team it can work. One fine example is The Departed, the Hollywood remake of the Hong Kong crime film, Infernal Affairs.
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10 rhienzy
May 24, 2014 at 11:11 PM
the one american remake of korean movie i watched and liked is the remake of il mare
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11 MO
May 25, 2014 at 5:54 AM
Pan's Labyrinth was kind of a dark fantasy, so I'm quite trustful. Besides, with Korean producers, I'm cnvinced.
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12 Aly
May 25, 2014 at 6:09 AM
this was such an epic movie with a fantastic cast to boot. yeo jin goo did a hell of a performance. i think hollywood can make it work. it would deffo be interesting to see at least
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13 Marina
May 25, 2014 at 2:18 PM
Javabeans. What spoilers?! Spoilers it's when someone posts about new developments, ahead of recaps, or before anyone gets to see it, in ongoing drama. This movie was made few years ago. I'm glad I read the comments, because couldn't make up my mind either to watch it on Dramacool or not.
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Javabeans
May 25, 2014 at 9:45 PM
Talking about the plot isn't necessarily bad, but considering that reading the thread could ruin the ending for people, I consider a warning appropriate, especially since it seemed people wanted the heads up.
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