Spike Lee has signed on to direct  a remake of “Oldboy,” the controversial South Korean movie, directed by Park Chan-wook,  about  a Seoul businessman who is kidnapped and held hostage in a grubby hotel room for 15 years. His only companion during that time is a TV set, and his only food is fried dumplings, always from  the same restaurant. He eventually is freed, and  launches a search for his captor and the reason for his ordeal.

 “Oldboy,” part of Park’s  trilogy of revenge movies, is believed to have influenced a student from South Korea who went on a shooting spree in April 2007 on the campus of his college in Virginia, killing 32 people and himself. A jury headed by Quentin Tarantino, no stranger to violence in movies, gave “Oldboy” the runner-up prize at the 2004 Cannes festival. Park’s version delivers bloody fights, dental torture, a tongue cutting, hot sex and consumption of a live octopus.  The other films in the trilogy   are “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “Lady Vengeance.” No word yet on the cast for Lee’s redo.