John Woo has directed some of the coolest action movies ever made, one of them being his 1989 film The Killer (buy it HERE). A few years ago, it was announced that Woo was going to be directing a remake of The Killer for Universal, with Lupita Nyong’o taking on the assassin role that had been played by Chow Yun-Fat in the original film. That version of the project fell apart when Nyong’o had to step away due to scheduling issues – but Woo is still working on the remake. And now it has been announced that he’ll be making it for Peacock! The remake is expected to be released through the streaming service sometime in 2023.
A press release about Peacock projects mentioned,
Celebrated action auteur John Woo returns to reimagine and direct his own classic
Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, and Sally Yeh, the original The Killer was about
an assassin who accidentally damages the eyes of a singer. The two fall in love, and he decides to perform one last hit in order to pay for a corneal transplant to prevent her from going blind.
A remake of The Killer has been stuck in development hell pretty much ever since the original film was released over thirty years ago. Walter Hill was going to direct it at one point, John H. Lee was going to direct at another. There was talk of making the film in 3D. The likes of Richard Gere, Denzel Washington, and Michelle Yeoh have been considered for roles throughout the years.
When Woo was working on The Killer at Universal with Nyong’o attached to star, it was said that the screenplay had been written by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken, with rewrites by Eran Creevy, and Brian Helgeland. It’s not clear if that script is still in place now that Woo is making the film for Peacock. The director only had a loose treatment for the original film when it went into production. It turned out to be great anyway.
Are you interested to see what Woo is going to do with a new version of The Killer? Let us know by leaving a comment below.