John Woo is following his killer instincts for the highly-anticipated English-language remake of his beloved 1989 classic film, “The Killer.”
Now with a gender-swapped twist, “The Killer” centers on Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel), a mysterious and infamous assassin who is known and feared in the Parisian underworld. With code name Queen of the Dead, Zee executes the kills her mentor and handler (Sam Worthington) assigns to her. However, after Zee refuses to kill a blinded young woman (Diana Silvers) in a Paris nightclub, the decision will disintegrate her alliances and attract the attention of a savvy police investigator (Omar Sy).
Per the official synopsis, that decision “plunges her into a sinister criminal conspiracy that will set her on a collision course with her own past.”
Woo’s original film starred Chow Yun-fat, Sally Yeh, and Danny Lee. The remake was announced in 2022 for Peacock, in collaboration with Universal Pictures. Back in 2018, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o was set to star as the assassin before “Game of Thrones” alum Emmanuel was instead cast. The remake of “The Killer” is Woo’s first film with a female lead.
Woo recently released his first American film since “Paycheck” in 2023, with “Silent Night.” Woo told IndieWire that critically panned “Paycheck” led him to exit Hollywood.
“Because I failed with ‘Paycheck,’ I didn’t get a good script offered to me for a long, long time,” Woo said. “For a Hollywood studio movie, I like to set up different cameras and shoot a lot of coverage. But working independently, you don’t have as many shooting days or as much money. It forced me to be more economical in my technique.”
He added of his latest filmmaking style, “Working for an independent company made me feel like back when I started in Hong Kong. There the director totally controlled everything, and it made it much easier. I had that again with this company. The money and the time are tight, but that’s the nature of independent film. I feel pretty pleased, because I feel free.”
“The Killer” premieres August 23 on Peacock. Check out the trailer below.
