Home Entertainment THE RAID remake officially casts Frank Grillo as one of its leads

THE RAID remake officially casts Frank Grillo as one of its leads

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Kick, scream and impale Malaysian drug dealers on jagged door frames as much as you want, but the American remake of Gareth Evans modern martial arts action movie classic, The Raid is still getting made, so we’ll just have to make the best of it. So while I’m still very, very, VERY iffy on Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3) behind the camera seeing as he is still pretty much an unknown entity at this stage, we now know that there will be at least one decent-ish person in front of the camera get their action on. Because fresh from facing down both Captain America and The Falcon in Captain America:The Winter Soldier, Frank Grillo has just been cast as one of the leads in the new remake.

Frank Grillo 42

He broke the news to We Got This Covered (via Total Film), where he also explained his martial arts qualifications that makes him a good fit for the role.

“I just got hired to do [the remake ofThe Raid. I loved [the original] so we’ve got to do this justice. It’s a fanboy favourite.”

“What people don’t know is that I’m a blackbelt in jujitsu, which I’ve been for 20 years, and I’ve been boxing since I’ve been 15 years old – those are things that come natural to me.”

With all respect to Grillo, I did Brazilian jiu jitsu for a few years, and while I love the discipline and think it’s one of the greatest and most practical martial arts ever, it doesn’t quite match up to the flamboyantly brutal Silat style exhibited by Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim and the rest of badasses of the original film.

Grillo, and whoever gets cast alongside him, are going to really have their work cut out for them. Grillo has previously proven though that he has the physical gifts to pull off some impressive action choreography, so it will all come down to Hughes’ direction, and what the script calls on him to do. Which is apparently, to be very American.

“The script is great. [I’m] one of the three main characters and, you know, I’m excited about it. I can’t wait to actually go do it because it’s gonna be Americanized, but not overtly Americanized. It’s really gonna keep a lot of what made the first Raid so great.”

The Raid remake is expected to start shooting before the end of the year, so expect some other casting announcements soon.

Last Updated: June 18, 2014

4 Comments

  1. That pic of him is from The Gates?

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      June 18, 2014 at 10:12

      I believe so, yeah

      Reply

  2. Rince&exhale

    June 18, 2014 at 09:54

    Why?!

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      June 18, 2014 at 10:12

      Because Murica

      Reply

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