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Kim Jee-woon to Remake French Classic

Spotlight auteur, Kim Jee-woon, director of this summer's most anticipated Korean film, "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", is already signed to his next project, a remake of a 1970's thriller called Max et les Ferrailleurs (Max and the Junkman). It is to be produced by power-duo John Woo and Terence Chang of the upcoming Red Cliff.

To be titled simply Max, the project is the first of a three-picture deal between France's Studio Canal and Woo and Chang's production house, Lion Rock. Director KIM, a fan of French noirs, and of Claude Sautet's original Max in particular, plans to update the film to modern times and possibly set it in the US.

The original starred Michel Piccoli as a down-on-his-luck detective who decides to inveigle a small-time gang into pulling a heist, intending to bust them red-handed and save his failing reputation. The scheme gets complicated when he falls for the girlfriend of the gang-leader.

The new project will be KIM's first English-language film, with the adaptation to be scripted by Howard A. Rodman (Saving Grace). Producers Woo and Change expressed excitement in working with KIM, calling him one of the best directors working today. Studio Canal, responsible for a number of remake projects, including Johnnie To's Le Cercle Rouge, will put up main coin and aims to have Max in theaters by spring 2009.

Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)

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