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THE MERCILESS to Receive English-Language Remake
CJ, France's Pathé and Vendôme Team to Update Cannes-Invited Korean Thriller
Korean gangster thriller The Merciless, which debuted in a midnight slot at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, is gearing up for an English-language remake courtesy of the French outfits Pathé and Vendôme, who are teaming up with the film’s original Korean distributor CJ Entertainment for the project.
From director BYUN Sung-hyun, the original The Merciless starred IM Si-wan (The Attorney, 2013) as a cop who goes undercover in a prison where he befriends a gangster played by SUL Kyung-gu (MEMOIR OF A MURDERER, 2017). Once they are released, the cop begins to work for the criminal as they both try to work their way up the ladder for different reasons.
Pathé and CJ will handle financing on the project, while Philippe ROUSSELET and co-CEO Fabrice GIANFERMI of Vendôme will produce alongside Francis CHUNG of CJ and Pathé’s Ardavan SAFAEE. Jerry KO, the Head of International at CJ, will serve as executive producer. In the deal, CJ will handle Korean distribution, as well as sales for Asian territories. Meanwhile Pathé will serve as the distributor for France and Switzerland and oversee the remaining territories of global sales.
The project is the latest international production for CJ Entertainment, which has found great success in the last five years as they have taken their own and occasionally other people’s titles and produced localized versions of them for different markets. Other upcoming projects from CJ include English-language versions of Extreme Job and Sunny (2011), to be produced by Kevin HART, and an American version of Hide and Seek (2013) with Jonathan RHYS MEYERS.
