Spike Lee's Oldboy hits theaters in just a few weeks, and the film's creative team has issued a short featurette showcasing the impressive physical transformation of star Josh Brolin, who rapidly gained and lost weight in order to show the effect that 20 years of captivity would have on his protagonist.
Oldboy, which is based on the 2003 Korean revenge thriller of the same name, follows a man who is locked up in an apartment for reasons no one will explain — only to be released two decades later to seek revenge on his mysterious captor. "What's that feeling, to not know when you're getting out?" says Brolin in the video. "You see every type of behavior: Angry, lonely, delusional."
"What Josh does is a tour de force. He has to play someone who's locked away for a long time," adds Spike Lee. "Josh gained a lot of weight [to play] Joe Doucette."
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How exactly did he do it? In the video, Brolin explains that his regimen included eating three cheeseburgers before bed, which helped him gain 15 pounds in four days. After those early scenes were filmed, he had to lose all the weight over a single weekend, in order to capture Joe Doucette's transition from hapless prisoner to rage-filled captive awaiting his chance for revenge.
The video also offers fans a brief glimpse of the remake's take on the most famous scene from the original Oldboy: The hammer brawl, a long, unbroken shot that features the protagonist fending off numerous attackers in a hallway. It's clear that this American riff on Oldboy has been crafted with a little more respect and care than many Hollywood remakes — and on Nov. 27, fans will finally get to see for themselves whether Spike Lee's Oldboy lives up to the very high bar set by the original.
