Fox International Production Korea is in early talks with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free over an English-language remake of Na Hong Jin’s hit horror-thriller The Wailing, ScreenDaily reports.
Speaking to Screen, head of FIP Korea, Hosung Kim, revealed that a senior Scott Free executive had recently contacted him with an offer to do the English-language remake.
“They said The Wailing reminded them of films such as The Exorcist, The Ring and Seven,” he told the site. “The locality and sensibility of The Wailing is so strong that I don’t think it would be easy to do a Western remake, and it will be important who directs it. So I told him I think the only director who could do the remake is Na Hong Jin. But we are still in early stages of talks,” he added, emphasising that neither he nor Na were ruling out any eventuality at this stage.
Director Na has previously said that he is interested in working in Hollywood although no concrete plans have been confirmed as of yet.
“We’re being careful. As you know, there are a lot of remakes out there being developed [that haven’t come to fruition],” said Kim.
Written and directed by Na, The Wailing is a set in a quiet Korean village that is rocked by a series of inexplicable murders after the arrival of a mysterious stranger. When an investigating officer’s daughter falls foul of the same violent spell, he resorts to bringing in a shaman to help cure her and solve the mystery, with unexpected results.
Kim added that he had reservations about a potential remake: “What other country has such diverse religious beliefs as Korea? In The Wailing, you see not a Korean Buddhist monk, but a Japanese monk type of person, a shaman, Christianity, Catholicism, and diverse pagan and occult beliefs.
“It’s different from the religious worldview of the West where they have monotheism in Christianity. So when you are tossed a question about faith, would the emotional response be as intrinsic as for Koreans? Of course the reactions we had in Cannes and from overseas sales were of surprise, but that was because it was foreign culture to them. Would it work if the film were in their own language?”
The Wailing landed on many of Bloody Disgusting’s best of the year lists, nearly topping Kalyn’s, while also being included in my own list.
