In March, Paramount announced James Wan’s onboarding to direct a reimagining of South Korean crime actioner The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil for the studio. And now, the project continues to gain steam, as Deadline has confirmed that Keanu Reeves has entered talks to star.
Details as to Wan’s take on the material and the role to be played by Reeves are under wraps. But the John Wick lead will star opposite Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok), who reprises his role from the original as crime boss Jang Dong-su.
Wan is producing alongside Michael Clear and Jason Blum via Blumhouse Atomic Monster, Lee via Big Punch Global, Sylvester Stallone and D. Matt Geller via Balboa Productions, and Chris S. Lee via B&C Group. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is also now on board to produce.
Eric Pearson wrote the latest script, based on previous drafts by Shay Hatten and Brian Helgeland, who exec produces alongside Billy Acumen.
Watch on Deadline
Loosely inspired by real-life South Korean serial killer cases from the mid-2000s, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil follows a crime boss who reluctantly teams with a detective to track down the serial killer who attacked him. Written and directed by Lee Won-tae, the film screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.
Coming off the fourth installment of his John Wick franchise, Reeves most recently boarded an adaptation of the forthcoming Oliver Lowe novel Kill Current: A Jon Hendricks Thriller, as we first reported. In addition to starring, he’ll produce as the first film under his new banner Two Dragonflies, alongside The Arena and Zando. Up next, he’ll be seen in the Warner Bros. sci-fi flick Shiver, out next August, and The Entertainment System Is Down, from multiple Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund, which A24 will release stateside.
THR was first to the news of Reeves’ latest casting.
