The Purge: Anarchy’s Frank Grillo to star in Patrick Hughes’ The Raid remake

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Last month we got word that Sony Screen Gems had delayed production on their remake of Gareth Huw Evans' masterpiece THE RAID, with sources close to the production sharing that plans to begin shooting the action pic in September had been pushed back and pre-production had been halted, but only temporarily as the film is now scheduled to begin shooting in early 2015. At the time of that report there were many names being tossed out as potential stars for the Patrick Hughes-helmed remake, among them THE PURGE: ANARCHY star Frank Grillo. Now We Got This Covered has learned that Grillo is indeed set to appear in the film, who confirmed his involvement in an interview about his work in the sequel to last years THE PURGE by sharing…

What people don’t know is that I’m a blackbelt in jujitsu, which I’ve been for 20 years, and I’ve been boxing since I’ve been 15 years old – those are things that come natural to me. Believe it or not, I just got hired to do [the remake of] The Raid…I loved [the original]…we’ve got to do this justice. It’s a fanboy favorite.

Grillo also confirmed that shooting will in fact start in January, so it looks like they want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible on this one. Patrick Hughes has quite the task ahead of him, and Grillo seems genuinely extremely excited about the director’s enthusiastic admiration for Gareth Evans’ original material so hopefully this remake is in good hands. Personally, I like Grillo and think he's a perfect badass addition to the film.

Collider also spoke to Grillo where the actor said…

"You know, the script is great…[I’m] one of the three main characters and, you know, I’m excited about it. I can’t wait to actually go do it because it’s gonna be Americanized, but not overtly Americanized. It’s really gonna keep a lot of what made the first Raid so great.”

Stay tuned for more casting news from THE RAID remake as we hear it!