Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Hornsby together at last in Spike Lee's Oldboy remake

By Sean O'Neal | August 20, 2012 | 9:08pm

Aux Features Film

Seeking the same legitimacy as the upcoming RoboCop remake, Spike Lee has added Samuel L. Jackson to his remake of Oldboy—a casting decision that is as much an explicit declaration of, "Hey, this is a real movie we're making" as obtaining cameras and a crafts services table. Jackson joins the previously announced Josh Brolin, Sharlto Copley, and Elizabeth Olsen in the long-gestating film, taking on a "small but critical part" in the not particularly small nor critical Americanized version of Chan-wook Park's cult thriller, one that reportedly involves being tortured by Brolin's character and probably expressing some Samuel L. Jackson-like irritation with that.

And in what promises to be the last time you see their two names appearing in such close proximity, the L.A. Times reports that Bruce Hornsby has also joined the film as its composer, continuing a collaboration with Lee that's included scoring his Kobe Doin' Work and the recent Red Hook Summer, and not, apparently, just playing "The Way It Is" over and over at different tempos. Although, if there were ever a song that so poignantly captured the inevitability of being brutally tortured, that's certainly it.