Somewhat incredibly, Spike Lee‘s remake of Chan-wook Park’s beloved new classic, Oldboy, keeps trucking right along. After months and months of casting rumors, informed chatter, (probably) uninformed chatter, and starts and stops, the film is set to star Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, and Sharlto Copley (seriously, this sounds great, right?), but Variety now reports that one co-star has been replaced, thanks to some pesky old scheduling conflicts.
The outlet reports that Nate Parker (who recently broke out with his solid work in Arbitrage) has had to leave the currently-filming project, with James Ransone stepping into his role (that of “a doctor who works with Olsen’s character”). While this may sound like a small role, Lee’s original choice of Parker, an actor who is poised for super-stardom, and his replacement pick of Ransone, who he has worked with twice before, indicates that this role might be beefier than it sounds. Why else pick a rising star and a trusted collaborator?
Ransone previously starred in Lee’s Inside Man and Red Hook Summer, and was most recently seen in Sinister. His upcoming projects include Starlet, Broken City, and Empire State. Parker will next be seen in the Liam Neeson-starring Non-Stop, from director Jaume Collet-Serra.