This is one of the most anticipated remakes of recent years.
There has been talk of The Raid remake ever since the first movie arrived in cinemas in 2011. Written and directed by Gareth Evans, starring Iko Uwais as a police officer part of a squad raiding the rundown apartment block of an Indonesian drug warlord, it was (and still is) an incredibly tense action film filled with some spectacular fight and stunt sequences.
The rights for the remake were sold to Sony almost immediately, with Evans originally kept on the project as an executive producer. By 2014, it was announced that Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3, The Hitman's Bodyguard) had signed on as director, with the new cast to be headed by Chris Hemsworth (who would eventually go on to make his own version of The Raid anyway).
Hughes went on to announce that his big influences would be Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty, with more characters playing integral roles, while both Taylor Kitsch and Frank Grillo were joining the cast.
However, by 2017, Hughes had dropped out of the director's chair, and had been replaced by Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Copshop), but then by January 2022, Hughes had reportedly been rehired as director, and Evans replaced as producer by Michael Bay.
There has been no word of any update since then, but the topic of The Raid remake came up when JOE interviewed Larnell Stovall, the action director of new John Wick spin-off show The Continental. You can check out that interview in full right here:
Over ten years later, we're still waiting for The Raid remake
When we mentioned to Stovall that some of the action in The Continental reminded us of some of the highlights from The Raid, the action director revealed the following to us:
"I met a group of producers from XYZ Films, and a lot of people don't know this, because it didn't happen, but I was actually contacted to do The Raid remake in America. So that is how I met Gareth Evans, that is how I went to Indonesia. We worked side by side on talking about the American remake. While I was there, they were prepping The Raid 2. So I saw their process, got to work with Iko and the guys, so they felt like I had that same flavour to carry what they established in Indonesia to America.
"So when you say that influence, that's a compliment, because those guys, I admire them so much because of how creative they are, and what they did with a small budget, that was so impactful. And I say to myself, 'Why can't we do that? Why can't we take our time to express our stories?'"
"I don't know where it stands right now. I don't know if the rights went back to XYZ right now, but yeah, that is going to be a challenge for whoever takes on that challenge. From the director to the action team, because it still holds up well, for what they've done in that amount of time with that budget.
"Do I think a remake is needed? No. I don't think it is needed. But will it probably happen? Sure. Will they throw a big budget at it? Sure. Will they throw a who's who of names at it that you've seen everywhere in it? I'm sure that is going to happen. But I think if you get the right director, the right action team, I think you can still make something special and make it our version of what they've done and respect it as well. And hopefully still make something fresh."
The Continental is available to watch on Prime Video right now, while The Raid is available to watch on Netflix or with a NOW Cinema Membership.
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