If Park has given his blessing, then he knows that it will stay true to the original and I am VERY happy for that.
Josh Brolin was the one to mention the blessing during a press junket for Men In Black 3. He did confirm that Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley are going to be in the film.
Here is Brolin's quote:
Oldboy? Literally you say Oldboy and my stomach just goes Grrrrrr [mimics twisting and turning]. Oldboy will be an experience, man. It wont be like Men In Black, I’ll tell you that much. I’m really happy about it. We’ve gotten amazing actors: Liz Olsen, who I think is fantastic and we also got Sharlto Copley from District 9 who I think is going to be unbelievable. He just wrote me an e-mail and was like, ‘Look, I’ve got to get this out of the way. Dude, Goonies is my favorite film of all time,’ which I thought was really sweet. And now I’m going to make 20 years of your life miserable.Josh Brolin talked about how much of a fan he was of the original work.
I love Oldboy and I’m close with Chan-wook Park and I emailed him a couple months ago, just asking for his blessing to do this movie because if he had said ‘No,’ I wouldn’t have done it. But I really respect his movie and we’ll make a little different movie and this whole idea of a more Hollywood version of it? Whatever. We’re just going to make a different version but have respect to the initial story and premise. I’m looking forward to it, man. I’m talking about it nervously right now because it makes me nervous.He was also asked about the two most famous scenes in the film.
Yes, by the way. Yes. And it’s a hammer and knife and all that stuff. And then will we keep the octopus, will we keep the other stuff? There’s some changes but I think it’s really good. It still makes me throw down the script half way through. Whoa.It's cool that Brolin is a fan of the work and Brolin, being a very good actor, will translate that passion for the original in his performance.
I am still skeptical about the film but this makes me more excited than I was previously and while I am also skeptical about Spike Lee directing the film, this news makes me a little bit more comfortable about him directing.
Source: Beyond Hollywood