Kim Takes English Debut to the “Max”

Fresh off his debut on the Croisette, to much acclaim I
might add, Korean auteur Ji-woon Kim is on quite a roll. His last two films
have done some serious bank both in his native Korea and the international
market – and his latest The Good, the Bad, and the Weird is poised to make a
huge splash later this year. So it’s no surprise that the filmmaker is being
courted by every production house under the sun.

StudioCanal and Lion Rock Productions have tapped Kim to
direct a remake of Claude Sautet’s 1970s noir classic Max and the Junkmen. The
film is the first of a three-picture deal between StudioCanal and the John Woo/Terence
Chang shingle Lion Rock intended to mine the former’s vast back catalogue of
French and American films for modern remakes. Howard Rodman, a writer who’s
credits are wholly unspectacular to say the least, will be handling scripting
duties. The film will be in English, marking Kim’s first non-Korean effort. A U.S. setting is
a distinct possibility, with the producers hoping to court top-tier talent to
front the project. I wouldn’t be surprised if frequent Kim collaborator and
international superstar Byung-hun Lee was cast as the titular Max, but that may
be a bit of a stretch (though his English is quite good).

The Sautet original starred the prolific Michel Piccoli (Belle de Jour) as
the stereotypical loner detective and department heel who concocts a scheme to
hire a group of hapless crooks to pull a heist with the intent of being
captured by him to increase his own standing in the force. Of course things go
wrong fast when he falls for the requisite femme fatale, the gang leader’s
squaw, played by the beautiful Romy Schneider (Ludwig).

The remake, simply titled Max, marks a return to crime noir
for the helmer, having previously kicked around the sandbox with his A
Bittersweet Life (also starring Byung-hun Lee). With his latest effort, comparisons
to Tarantino are unavoidable but justified. Kim is unabashedly a genre
filmmaker fascinated with B-movie material that is elevated by his immense talent.
One need look no further than his first international hit A Tale of Two Sisters (currently being remade by Dreamworks as The Uninvited – not to be confused
with the Korean horror pic of the same name from 2001!), a film which was
better than it had any right to be thanks to Kim’s impeccable technical
prowess. If nothing else, Max should look spectacular.

StudioCanal hopes to have the picture signed, sealed, and
delivered by Spring 2009. Can you say Cannes?