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Variety: Sharlto Copley Offered Villain Role in Oldboy Remake

The entertainment trade magazine Variety reported on Thursday that actor Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team) has been offered the villain role of Adrian in Spike Lee's remake of Park Chan-Wook's live-action film Oldboy. Variety added that Copley is in early talks for the role. Variety's article notes that actress Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House, Martha Marcy May Marlene) will play the female lead in the film. The Twitch film website had reported in February that Olsen had been offered the role.

Variety also added more information about the movie's characters. The site describes the villain's character as "a mysterious billionaire out to destroy the [protagonist's] life" and the female lead's character as "a caseworker who helps [the protagonist] investigate the past."

Past actors who have been offered the role of Adrian include Clive Owen (Intruders, Children of Men, Sin City), Colin Firth (The King's Speech, A Single Man, Love Actually), and Christian Bale (The Fighter, Batman Begins, American Psycho).

In January, Variety reported that production on the film has been delayed until late summer or early fall because of actor Josh Brolin's press commitments for his Men in Black 3 film. Brolin is slated to play the male lead in the film.

Mandate Pictures is developing the project with producers Doug Davison and Roy Lee (The Ring, Dark Water [2005], Death Note and Godzilla remake plans) of Vertigo Entertainment and Lee's 40 Acres & A Mule Productions. Mark Protosevich (Thor, I Am Legend) wrote a script, and Mandate Pictures President Nathan Kahane is serving as executive producer.

Variety earlier described the Korean film's story about "a man who's kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. When he's finally released and begins looking into the reason for his captivity, he soon finds out that his kidnapper has even more torturous plans for him." (The original manga has the protagonist imprisoned for a different number of years and does not have the Korean film's added plot twist ending.)

Image via IMDb