Around a month ago I wrote an extremely long article about how dumb it was to remake the stylish 70’s French crime/thriller The Red Circle, especially with Orlando Bloom set to lead, an actor who is far from being cool. Well my Internet decided to crash on me before I could publish the article in full but I still managed to put up a few paragraphs.

Now comes confirmation from The Hollywood Reporter that the project is indeed happening. Bloom has been offered the lead part, as has Liam Neeson and Chow Yun-Fat for supporting roles. All three men hope to star in the remake for director Johnnie To…

Johnnie To is the director of the extremely popular Asian flicks Exiled and Election. He sees the original French thriller as a property which could be easily translated into a Hong Kong setting and has hired his frequent screenwriting partner Ka-Fai Wi to pen the screenplay.

Plot of the original film from IMDB…

Corey is a cool, aristocratic thief, released from prison on the same day that Vogel, a murderer, escapes from the custody of the patient Mattei, a cat-loving police superintendent. Corey robs Rico, his mob boss, then enlists Vogel and an ex-police sharpshooter, Jansen, in a jewel heist. While Corey is harried by the vengeful Rico, Mattei pressures Santi, a nightclub owner and pimp, to help him trap the thieves. Over all hangs the judgment of the police directeur, that every man is guilty.

They have $40 million to play with at Media Asia, with filming set to begin in June.

The original Jean-Pierre Melville movie is so cool, so stylish and so much a part of it’s time that I don’t see why they should remake it but I guess if they are changing the setting to Hong Kong and with as stylish a helmer as To… maybe this won’t be so much a remake but a homage movie?

Still Orlando Bloom? He just seems SOOOO wrong for this project.

Here’s the trailer for Le Circle Rouge. The Criterion print is highly recommended for anyone interested in seeing the movie…