Clive Owen turns down villain role in 'Oldboy'

After Colin Firth and Christian Bale, Clive Owen is the latest to turn down the bad guy role in Spike Lee's Oldboy remake. Or at least according to Variety's Jeff Sneider, who also notes that the film's start date has been bumped possibly into the fall. The reason has to do with Josh Brolin, who has commitments to Men in Black III to attend to.

I think it could be more than that, though. After Spike Lee jumped aboard to direct, Brolin quickly followed and it looked like all would be smooth sailing. However, casting has hit a major snag over the last few months. Let's not forget that Rooney Mara also passed on the female lead, and we haven't heard jack about the offer made to Mia Wasikowska. What's the deal, anyway? Is the script lousy or something?

There's no doubt the film will get made, and with Lee at the helm I'm sure it'll probably be pretty good. But so many rejections are a cause for concern. As great as Owen is, he's not exactly the most picky actor on the planet.