Frank Grillo and Joe Carnahan Talk Remaking The Raid
Steve Barton
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The Raid is a true favorite amongst fans, and with a remake on its way, Frank Grillo and Joe Carnahan know all too well that they HAVE TO deliver. Recently Collider caught up with the actor and director to get their take on the project.
In terms of the differences between the original and the remake, Carnahan offered the following:
“It’s [about] heightening elements of The Raid that were already there. I’m taking these story elements and kind of weaponizing them. Just giving them a shot of steroids, because again everything is about zagging—where The Raid zigged, we’ll zag.”
He went on to explain that the level of violence WILL NOT be toned down…
“There’s a level of brutality, a level of violence. If our movie felt like the knife fight between Adam Goldberg and the German in Saving Private Ryan the entirety of the movie, then we’ve done exactly what we need to do. Something that grueling and tough.”
Why remake The Raid and not something new? Grillo explains:
“First of all, we’re not the Hollywood version of anything. We come through the back door all the time. I’m not Tom Cruise. I’m not the Hollywood version. I’m not knocking Tom Cruise, but he’s Tom Cruise. He gets to do whatever he wants. So my point is we don’t have to do this. We can do anything we want to do. We want to do this because there’s something we see that we want to show to American audiences and audiences globally. Many people have not seen The Raid.”
From the Prior Press Release:
WarParty and XYZ Films have announced that they will partner on the reimagining of the hit Indonesian action film THE RAID, which Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Narc) will direct and write and Frank Grillo (The Grey, The Purge: Anarchy, The Purge: Election Year) will star in. The film will be produced by WarParty and XYZ. Gareth Evans, the martial arts auteur who directed the original Raid film, will executive produce.
Premiering in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Indonesian martial-arts movie THE RAID (also known as THE RAID: REDEMPTION) secured unanimous critical praise, rocketing to cult film status across the world and making stars out of the leads Iko Uwais (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Joe Taslim (Fast & Furious 6). The movie captured audiences with its boundary-pushing, inventive choreography and a lightning-paced narrative where a lone, isolated SWAT team is trapped by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs inside a tenement block, and they have to fight through to the top.
Directed by Gareth Evans and produced by PT. Merantau Films and XYZ Films, the high-octane franchise has garnered great success since its release. The first film won the People’s Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section of TIFF in 2011 and had 10 nominations at the 2012 Maya Awards.
“I am extremely excited about Frank and I boarding this property and hopefully doing something fresh and inventive with it,” says Carnahan. “The original is masterful, so we’ve given ourselves a pretty big mountain to summit. But I have great faith in the story and approach to the material that we’ve taken.”
“Joe and Frank are ideal creative partners for this film,” XYZ added. “They want to pay homage to THE RAID, not do a paint-by-numbers remake.”
More as it comes.
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