Sharlto Copley says that Oldboy is not being made for commercial purposes.
Spike Lee is directing the remake of the South Korean revenge movie in which Copley is set to star - but the new film has been hit with some criticism.
But the actor says that there is a real 'creative drive' from everyone involved in the project and they are not remaking it just for the sake of it.
Speaking to Empire the actor said: "It's such a good story! Something like this only comes along very rarely, and it seems perfectly reasonable to have a re-imagining of it.
"Very often Hollywood will remake something just because there’s a built-in audience, just for the commercial aspect of doing it.
"That’s fair enough, I guess. But with this, if you look at the people who have got involved, it’s more for the creative drive."
"It’s not a massive franchise that you’re trying to reboot, or something that’s going to make a gazillion dollars. It’s just a film that’s artistically inspiring to people."
Copley is joined on the cast list by Samuel L.Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Brolin and filming on the project continues.
Oldboy is expected to hit the big screen at the back end of next year.
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