by W. H. Bourne
“About five years ago I got a phone call from Will Smith’s assistant who said, ‘Will’s going to call you in about a half hour; will you be home?’” Oldboy‘s screenwriter Mark Protosevich tells a fascinating story about how the current adaptation of the beloved Korean cult classic managed to make it to the big screen. Protosevich, who had penned I Am Legend which was a huge commercial success for Smith back in 2007, would equally be surprised by a development process that would have as many surprise twists and turns as the film he would eventually write.
“He (Smith) called promptly on time and said he wanted me to write his next movie which would be a remake of Oldboy and the only thing I needed to do was come out to Los Angeles to meet the director… Steven Spielberg,” says Protosevich. “I immediately said that’s a meeting I’ll take!”
“About two days later, I flew out to L.A. and was sitting with Steven and (Dreamworks CEO) Stacey Snider talking about what a remake of Oldboy could be,” says Protosevich. He (Spielberg) had been unaware of the original source material, the Japanese manga (the graphic novels by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi). I had brought some of those with me and I talked about them. We talked about the film (the Korean classic by Park Chan Wook which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004) and some of the more controversial or unsettling moments of the original. We were all pretty much on board (during the development of the project) about trying to go to those dark places and about not trying to make it a more palatable or accessible version….”
“As often it happens, it took a long time for all the various deals to get done and all the rights to get secured,” explains Protosevich. “I met with Steven and Stacey several more times (over about a year) and everything seemed to be moving forward. During that process, I got so attached to the idea of doing a new version of Oldboy. I watched the original film numerous times. Of course I had seen the original before that call with Will and I loved it then, but (during development) I scrutinized the original with great detail. I also watched other films that dealt with similar twists like Diabolique and Vertigo. I watched a lot of revenge films too like Point Blank and the original British version of Get Carter. I was definitely immersing myself in the world of what this kind of film is and could be. When I finished the treatment, I was tremendously excited and said to my wife, ‘I think this really is going to be a good one…’ I had become very passionate about the project—almost obsessed with it.”
Oldboy Screenwriter Mark Protosevich
Protosevich continues, “I had written a very detailed 30 – 35 page treatment of what a new film version could be. The day I turned in the treatment I got a call about three hours later from an executive at Dreamworks. I was excited. I thought they were calling because they had already read the treatment. Instead I was told that the whole project had fallen apart. The deals couldn’t be worked out. Steven was pulling out of the project, and because of that Will was pulling out as well so everything collapsed. You have many soul crushing days as a writer, but that one was one of my worst. I had invested so much emotion and time and effort into what I thought the film could be and now it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.”
“A few days later I talked to the (other) producers and everyone still wanted to see the project happen. It wasn’t going to be a big studio project. There wasn’t anyone attached now, but they still wanted to go forward with trying to make the movie, and I very much wanted to continue writing it. Because of the treatment, I had a vision of the film in my head and I really wanted to see it come to fruition,” says Protosevich.
“The producers and I all met in L.A.,” continues Protosevich. “It was a very different configuration. It wasn’t going to be a very huge budget. They couldn’t pay me a lot of money upfront, and we negotiated a very different kind of deal. I was fine with that because, like I said, by that point I had become so invested in the project. So I sat and wrote the script. I did a number of drafts with the producers until we felt we had a version of the script that we were confident in.”
The producers for Oldboy did have a vested interest in getting the picture made. Protosevich explains, “Roy Lee acquired the rights to the original film. He was the person who actually got the ball rolling. For a while, the project had been at Universal and Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) had expressed interest in directing it. That was actually the first time I had heard about the project which was a long time before the call from Will Smith. Roy was initially the one shepherding the project.”
“So we were just another project trying to get an actor and director attached,” says Protosevich. “Almost simultaneously Josh Brolin expressed interest, and Spike Lee said he loved the script and wanted to do it. Luckily, Spike and Josh had known each other for a while and had always talked about working with each other, and the whole thing came together.”
Josh Brolin as Joe Doucett in Oldboy
Protosevich has some impressive credits including The Cell, I Am Legend and Thor. Oldboy wasn’t his first re-imaging in that he also penned the Poseidon remake. Whether it’s the initial concept, writing compelling action scenes, or figuring out what to do when a character is alone on the screen, Protosevich skillfully tackles these issues. His process and craft are interesting to examine.
“All writers are different, but the treatment is very important for me,” says Protosevich. “I think in some ways it is the most difficult part of the process because I’m trying to see the whole movie even at that early stage, and I’m really getting the foundation of the story set, getting the characters fleshed out, getting the themes articulated. All of that is occurring for me during the writing of the treatment. I always do an outline or a detailed treatment. I really like to have the film laid out before I write a single page of the screenplay. I’ll start out with note cards or a listing of basic scenes and my average treatment is between 30 – 40 pages.”
“I always go all out on my first draft,” continues Protosevich. “I don’t restrict myself or censor myself by writing for anyone person (actor or director) because I believe that you can always edit stuff out, a certain scene or character, but they’ll never let you put it back in. I think it’s important to always put that stuff in first so they know what you’re thinking. That way you’re presenting a very clear picture of the film—the way you think it could be. Generally I feel that the more you do this, the more you’re honest and uncompromising with your initial vision. I think people can sense that. It’s important for the first draft to feel that way because it will be the one thing largely responsible for whether or not the film gets made. ”
“I finished the first draft (of Oldboy) in September of 2010,” offers Protosevich. “I have a tendency to write very lengthy first drafts and then scale back although this one wasn’t too bad. The first version was 132 pages, and I brought it down to 118 pages. I worked on various drafts with the producers until March of 2011. The draft that was filmed was 111 pages.”
Hammering Out the Action for Oldboy
Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes of Oldboy is Josh Brolin exacting vengeance with a hammer. Mark Protosevich shares his thoughts on action and “seeing white on the page”.
“I take a lot of pride in writing description in a script. I think it’s an underrated virtue to write really compelling description. Even in the script, that scene (Josh Brolin with the hammer) had a fair amount of detail in it. Originally, I had written the fight going down a staircase, and Spike even had a vision of using a spiral staircase, but it turned out that, budget wise, this just wasn’t practical. We found an abandoned naval yard in New Orleans that had these ascending and descending ramps. Ultimately, the fight was customized to fit the location.” Protosevich continues, “No matter what, the director and the actors and the stunt coordinator and the stuntmen are going to choreograph it. Maybe it still looks like what you wrote, but there are characteristics of the location or physical limitations of human beings that have to be taken into account. But I think what you write in the script is important because I think it gives the idea of what the scene could be on screen, so I have the tendency to try and make that appear as cinematic as possible for people reading the script.”
“I like to write those scenes in greater detail than a writing teacher would advise, but I have fun with it and I enjoy doing it,” says Protosevich. “But I think people see these huge blocks of text, and it’s almost a turnoff. The reader’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is going to be like reading a novel,’ so you definitely want to try to break things up in terms of how much description you’re putting into one paragraph. That’s something in terms of technique that I think you need to be conscious of. Again, I don’t think it’s about how much of the action you are describing but actually how you’re describing it, how you actually use the language for your style of creating action or tension or movement. I think that is important because it can convey a sense of excitement instead of terse, brief descriptions of action.
Brolin’s Fight Customized to the Location
“There are a lot of times when people have read my scripts and said, ‘Have you thought about writing a novel?’ I actually take that as a complement because I believe that what they’re saying is that they found the text of the script was compelling. And I try to make those scenes feel as exciting as anything else,” explains Protosevich. “And yeah, I’ve done several projects, this one and I am Legend where there wasn’t a lot of dialogue. You have a character alone, so there’s no one for him to interact with so all you really have is the action and the description of his behavior. I enjoy writing those purely visual moments on the page. I have a terrific time with trying to create pictures in the mind of the person reading the script. The greatest compliment someone can give me after reading a script of mine is, ‘You know I really saw the movie as I was reading it. I can imagine seeing that on screen.’ Then, I have succeeded if the person can see the movie as they’re turning the pages of the script. Then I know I’ve done my job.”
For many screenwriters, once they’ve penned the script their involvement with the project ends. A writer on the set is the exception not the norm. I’m sure this would be the first thought to occur to most writers when Spike Lee signs on to direct since he is a writer in his own right, receiving an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, Do the Right Thing. Mark Protosevich talks about working with Spike on Oldboy.
“Spike likes to do rehearsals with the actors about a week before production starts. He had Josh and Lizzie rehearse their scenes, and he would say, ‘Feel free to improvise.’ Sometimes there would be things that would come out of those rehearsals that he would then sit down with me and say, ‘This came out in rehearsals,’ and we would discuss it. Josh had a lot of ideas about his character and how he would say things and what types of things he would avoid. There were definitely adjustments I made to dialogue or cutting dialogue. If an interesting line came up with one of them during rehearsals, I would incorporate that into the script. I was doing a lot of that the week before we were shooting. That’s where most of the script changes occurred—in dialogue,” says Protosevich.
Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen in Oldboy
“One of things that I am very thankful to Spike is about being secure enough to say, ‘Look I think we have a good script here. There’s a few changes here and there that I’d like to make but overall we’re in good shape.’ I think there’s an assumption that when a director comes in who’s also a writer, he’s going to want to do a draft and do a lot of changes so it’s more ‘his.’ In this case, Spike was incredibly supportive because he gets it. He respects the writer’s contribution. He was very supportive of me being a participant and seeing the film get made. I was on the set during production, and he was terrific in that way,” explains Protosevich. “I think that’s because he is a writer; he respects writers. We had a very good working relationship. Any specific changes that did occur had more to do with specific lines of dialogue or making things tighter, condensing. He has a great sense of knowing, ‘Okay, what is absolutely necessary in this story and what can be lost.’ He made the script very tight. But in terms of its core structure, the film is not very different from that initial treatment that I wrote or the draft that Spike first read.”
“What I think I really enjoyed most was watching Spike work and seeing how he got the most out of his actors. He’s got a lot of energy and he really has a lot of affection for his actors. He’s really trying to get the best out of people. I think it’s a terrific experience (being on set) in terms of actually seeing the process. I think every writer spends months seeing the film in his head, and I just think that it’s a fantastic opportunity to see what it takes to make those scenes come alive.” But Protosevich cautions, “I certainly couldn’t imagine being a writer who would be second guessing the director during production. You really don’t want to do that. My feeling is that when it comes to that point in production, I am the lieutenant that drew up the battle plan. Now we’re going to war and it’s the general who’s in charge. I certainly think you can share an opinion with the director about something. There were a lot of times that Spike would ask a question just for clarification. And during that time, I was happy to be of help in any way I can, but he had a job to do. He’s in charge. I think that’s the healthiest way to keep a happy set.”
Oldboy director Spike Lee
As difficult as it was for Oldboy to go from script to screen, there were some equally challenging moments for Protosevich in crafting the script. SPOLIER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the film, stop reading NOW!
“Some of the scenes between Josh Brolin and Lizzie Olsen were difficult because you’re dealing with characters who don’t really know each other. There’s an attraction there, but you’re also trying not to reveal too much because there’s a mystery aspect to the story so you have to keep certain things hidden. I felt I had to be very careful in those scenes between the two of them just in terms of what’s being revealed and how to create a sense of attraction and trust because the circumstances themselves are so extreme. That was probably my greatest challenge,” offers Protosevich.
“Even though there are similarities in our surprise revelation as it builds to a similar moment, the very ending of our film is quite different from the original, and it’s one of the very first things I wrote down. As I was initially jotting down notes of what a new version (of Oldboy) could be, the ending came to me and I thought it could be a very poignant way to end the film. In some ways, it was a personal choice by putting myself inside the character’s head.
One Sheet for Oldboy
When he (Brolin) learns that the woman he has fallen in love and that the woman he slept with is his daughter, he’s horrified by this discovery. For me, the last thing I would do is try to maintain a relationship with her,” explains Protosevich. “The original film approaches it in a certain way; I wanted to go in a different way. I felt that the character would feel a need to punish himself and also find a way to make amends. I liked the idea of some type of sacrifice being made. For me, providing for her financial security and then removing himself from her life felt like, for lack of a better word, a noble thing to do. In a way, it makes it impossible for him to have contact with her. There’s an aspect of self punishment there, but also that he’s doing something to try and help her. In a way, with the very final image of the film, he’s reached a moment of peace. That was important for me.”
“The scenes I enjoyed writing most, the ones that I am proudest of and happiest with in the film are all the scenes in which he’s (Brolin) in captivity. In our version, he spent more time in there than the original film. I think that’s because I thought that this was a very important time for him. I really wanted to convey the transformation that he has and goes through to alter the path that he was on—moving out of self destruction and into an awakening—a redemption of himself and becoming a new version of himself. I like stories that deal with profound transformations because of a character being in extreme circumstance,” says Protosevich. “Those are the best scenes.”
You can catch Mark Protosevich’s best scenes in Oldboy, opening in theaters November 27, 2013.
