Frank Grillo talks about the long-stalled Hollywood remake of The Raid, a project he was passionate about while it was in development.
In a recent interview with Christian Harloff, Grillo detailed the challenges his team faced in reimagining Gareth Evans’ 2011 Indonesian action thriller, a modern classic in the action genre.
“Sony gave us an option on the script,” Grillo said. “When I was at Sony, I was supposed to do ‘The Raid’ with Taylor Kitsch and Anthony Mackie, but it fell through. I don’t remember why,” Grillo said.The rights eventually went to XYZ Films. He explained that the project had been rekindled. He brought the idea to frequent collaborator Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Boss Level, Cop Shop), but ultimately the two were unable to make it happen. “I couldn’t get the script right,” he admitted. “The original ‘The Raid’ is a very unique movie. It’s a difficult movie to remake.”
Directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans, The Raid follows a tactical team of Indonesian police trapped in a Jakarta apartment complex controlled by a ruthless drug gang. The squad must fight to escape while facing increasingly grueling combat. Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian, the film earned international acclaim for its stunning fight choreography and relentless pace, cementing its status as a genre-defining action thriller. .
Grillo, a fan of the original film, said he was skeptical about remaking it in the first place. “Personally, I don’t need to watch the remake of ‘The Raid.’ I don’t need to watch it with Americans.”
Ever since Sony acquired the North American distribution rights in 2011, efforts have been underway to make The Raid into a film. Sony subsidiary Screen Gems originally planned to bring on Gareth Evans as executive producer, with the original film’s choreographer also involved. In 2014, Australian director Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3, The Hitman’s Bodyguard) was announced as the director, with Chris and Liam Hemsworth reportedly being considered for the role. That year, Grillo officially joined the project, but production delays and creative hurdles caused the project to fall apart.
A later version, led by Carnahan and with Grillo attached, also failed to materialize. “We brought in Byron Balasco, who wrote[MMA drama series]Kingdom, to help with the script, but that just didn’t happen,” Grillo said. “We could have made a version of it, but we thought, ‘People aren’t going to like this.'”
The latest attempt at a remake surfaced in January 2022, when Netflix announced plans to develop a new version directed by Hughes, produced by Michael Bay, and executive produced by Evans. There has been little up-to-date information on that iteration, and the status of the project remains uncertain.
Reflecting on the repeated challenges of remaking The Raid, Grillo said: This movie is telling you something. ”
