South Korean cinema has seen several Hollywood adaptations over the years, from Spike Lee’s Oldboy to last year’s Bugonia, a remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet!. The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil is set to receive the same treatment, with James Wan tapped to direct and produce an English-language reimagining of the action crime thriller for Paramount.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, original star Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, will also reprise his role from the 2019 film, though further casting details are kept under wraps. The Conjuring filmmaker is producing via his Blumhouse-Atomic Monster banner, alongside Michael Clear, Balboa Productions’ Sylvester Stallone and D. Matt Geller, Lee himself, and more.
Shay Hayden, whose credits include John Wick and Rebel Moon, is penning the script based on a draft from L.A. Confidential‘s Brian Helgeland, who serves as an executive producer on the upcoming feature.
The remake of The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil will mark Wan’s first directing stint since Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in 2023, and currently has no release date. In Lee Won-tae’s original, Lee plays a gangster who teams up with a cop (Kim Mu-yeol, War of the Arrows) to capture a serial killer (Kim Sung-kyu, Kingdom) for own purposes, but they face challenges from their respective enemies.
In the meantime, Wan has been busy with several other projects. On top of a new Paranormal Activity movie, the horror specialist is attached to a Dead by Daylight adaptation, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, a Backrooms film, Mortal Kombat II, and more. As for the Train to Busan actor, Lee was set to lead Nagoshi Studio’s Gang of Dragon as protagonist Shin-Ji-seong, but the game is now in hot water after NetEase decided to cut off funding starting this May.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
