First 'Oldboy' Trailer: History, Hotel Rooms and Hammers to the Head

For those looking for a revenge flick that's exciting, confusing and more than a little violent -- a hammer in the head, Josh Brolin? -- the first trailer for Spike Lee's upcoming remake of the 2003 South Korean thriller Oldboy might be exactly what you're looking for.

Oldboy started life as a manga series running in Weekly Manga Action by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobukai Minegishi that ran from 1996 to 1998, before being adapted by director Park Chan-Wook in 2003 and, now, Lee for this new American version of the story.

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Each version of the story features the same basic plot. A man is locked away for years without reason, and once released, goes looking for explanations and those responsible. But what's odd is that each successive version of the story adds additional years to the length of imprisonment. In the original manga, Shinichi Goto is trapped for a decade. In the first film adaptation, Oh Dae-su is locked away for 15 years, and as the new trailer for the American edition reveals, Brolin's Joe Doucett is kept in solitary confinement for twenty years.

(As is always the case in such movies, Brolin ages suspiciously well in those twenty years; by the time he's released with his new haircut, he almost looks younger than he did in 1993.)

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The American version of the movie has been in the works for some time; in 2008, it was Will Smith and Steven Spielberg attached to the project, although both dropped out a year later, effectively killing the project until Lee became involved in 2011. Mark Protosevich, who provided scripts for I Am Legend and The Cell, has remained attached as screenwriter throughout.

The film also stars also stars Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley. Oldboy will be released October 25 via FilmDistrict.

Twitter: @sajilpl

First Look: The New Pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel (Exclusive Photos)

Still the perfect place to be seen, the pool has just resurfaced after a three-month, multimillion-dollar renovation befitting the Pink Palace, which turned 100 last year.This story first appeared in the July 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Plunge into the Beverly Hills Hotel pool and you might come out famous. It's where Raquel Welch and Robert Evans got discovered, Esther Williams swam each morning and The Beatles swashed by moonlight. Katharine Hepburn dove in clothed, while Tallulah Bankhead reportedly did so naked. In a cabana, Yves Montand romanced Marilyn Monroe. Boorish Rex Harrison greeted longtime pool manager Svend Petersen wearing nothing but a strategically placed handkerchief, a different color every day, and Fred Astaire walked around the perimeter as if life itself was a graceful dance.

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"There were so many beautiful stars there and so much action," recalls actor and habitue Robert Wagner. "Afterparties, movie meetings. It's the embassy of Hollywood!" It was a great place for a young actor to get recognized, he says. "But no belly flops. You'd want to do a pretty clean dive."

Still the perfect place to be seen, the pool has just resurfaced after a three-month, multimillion-dollar renovation befitting the Pink Palace, which turned 100 last year. "Everything was custom designed to preserve what the hotel represents: the glamour, the stripes, the pink, the green," says renowned designer Adam Tihany, who was responsible for the refresh. "I commissioned a banana-leaf mural, and we created a new umbrella that makes you feel like you're under a banana tree." Service has entered the 21st century.

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Before the remodel, food was not available poolside, and the adjacent Cabana Cafe didn't serve dinner. (Maybe that's why Howard Hughes had staffers leave roast beef sandwiches in the tree outside his cabana late at night.) Now, guests can order the hotel's famed McCarthy Salad while sunbathing, the cafe has been expanded with an open-show kitchen, and the less prestigious upper-level cabanas were replaced by a pool terrace, where dinner will be served starting in the fall. "We're creating one of the most romantic spots in L.A. to dine alfresco," says Tihany, "not just for the bathing-suit crowd, but for people in cashmere and Jimmy Choos."

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