Back in 2004 John Woo was attached to direct the remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1970 film Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle). Then Johnnie To was preparing to direct and even lined up Orlando Bloom to star and there was talk of Chow Yun-fat, Liam Neeson and one of the original film’s stars, Alain Delon, to co-star. When that fell through it was John Hillcoat’s (The Proposition, The Road) turn. Now it moves to the hands of Jaume Collet-Serra, director of this weekend’s new release Unknown (my review here).
The action thriller is being scripted by Eastern Promises scribe Steven Knight. The story is centered on a thief who is released from prison the same day a murderer escapes police custody. The outlaws pair up and commit a heist as a relentless cop closes in. Word is the remake will be moved from the original film’s France origins and be set in Hong Kong.
This is the second potential film to be added to Collet-Serra’s upcoming slate as he was recently attached to direct Harker for Warner Bros. The film is a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” focusing on detective Jonathan Harker as he tracks Dracula, and sets up the investigator as a potential new franchise character.
If you ask me Collet-Serra’s track record isn’t all that exciting. Strangely enough I found his remake of House of Wax the most enjoyable project he’s done so far and that’s primarily due to the fact Paris Hilton gets a metal tube shoved through her head. Orphan was terrible and I was unimpressed with Unknown. However, when you make films that appeal to enough people and hold a high enough potential for overseas box-office you’re sure to draw some attention. Collet-Serra has done just that.
As for this remake, I only recently saw Le Cercle Rouge for the first time on NetFlix Instant (where it is still available until March 1) and I wasn’t necessarily blown away by it. I do, however, wonder what the approach to the remake will be seeing how Melville’s film is a slow and methodical feature and one domestic audiences probably wouldn’t sit for too long before getting restless. I wonder if they’re going to aim for a slicker version such as Unknown or a more evenly paced picture such as David Cronenberg’s treatment of Knight’s Eastern Promises.
Here’s the French trailer for Le Cercle Rouge, which will be hitting Criterion Blu-ray on April 12.
