Charlize Theron to star in remake of South Korean director Park Chan-wook's 'Lady Vengeance'

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First Oldboy, now Lady Vengeance.
Charlize Theron has been cast for years as fierce women warrior types, and she’s ready to take on another iconic role as the lead in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, a remake of South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s acclaimed 2005 thriller Lady Vengeance, the third in Park’s vengeance trilogy, which also includes 2003′s Oldboy, currently being remade by Spike Lee.
Annapurna Pictures, Theron’s production outfit Denver & Delilah Films, and Asian company CJ Entertainment have partnered for the remake, with The Departed Oscar-winning scribe William Monahan writing the script, according to a press release Wednesday.

Theron and Denver & Delilah partner Beth Kono, Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison and Chelsea Barnard, plus CJ Entertainment’s Ted Kim, and William Monahan, are producing, with Justine Suzanne Jones of Henceforth Pictures, AJ Dix of Denver & Delilah, Ted Schipper of Annapurna Pictures and Miky Lee of CJ Entertainment as executive producers. Ellison and Annapurna Pictures are financing the movie, according to the release.

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Combining the names of Park’s 2002 trilogy lead-off Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance will follow the story of a woman, played by Theron, who completes a prison term for a murder she’s innocent of committing, then vows to punish the real killer and avenge the dead.
“This will be very American – and very unexpected,” said Monahan in a statement. “Park is a genius; it’s the Everest of adaptations and I’ve got blood in my teeth to do it.”
The announcement proves to expand Park’s already rising star. With Lee remaking equally bloody Oldboy, with Josh Brolin starring as the imprisoned lead who also gets out and seeks vengeance, the attention on South Korean remakes will only increase. Check out EW’s extensive interview with Park, whose first English language film Stoker, starring Nicole Kidman, will be released next year, as well as first-time English language movies by South Korean directors Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer) and Kim Jee-woon (The Last Stand), touting A-list casts.