‘Infernal Affairs‘ was a global success, its idea of mutual Triad/Police moles trying to work out the others’ identity spawned sequels and an Oscar-winning remake. Now the premise heads to television…
It’s fourteen years since Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs hit the screen. The original movie told of an undercover cop (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) placed in the Triads and an undercover Triad (Andy Lau) placed within the police force and the interconnecting conflicts and events into which they are drawn while they try to come to terms with the lives they are now leading and the realisation of the threat the other ‘plant’ poses..
The first film was a huge success in Hong Kong and did very well internationally spawning a prequel Infernal Affairs 2 and a sequel Infernal Affairs 3 that wrapped up the storyline. 2006 saw the American remake The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as the main characters. It was a huge success around the world and took home the Oscar for Best Picture that year. There were also subsequent Korean and Japanese adaptations of the film, entitled City of Damnation and Double Face respectively. The film also inspired elements of Square Enix’s open world video game Sleeping Dogs, which followed a young policeman undercover in the Hong Kong Triads.
Now Infernal Affairs returns, this time for a new television series being produced by Media Asia and former TVB producer Tommy Leung. Eric Tsang reprises his role as the villain Hon Sum, the villainous Triad chief. Technically it is neither a remake nor a sequel, but the producers have referred to it as ‘..an equal’ with new characters and familiar characters (including Hon Sum) returning to tell new stories. TVB heart-throb Gallen Lo (A Warriors Tragedy) Bernice Liu (Bad Blood, Stegman is Dead), Damian Lau (What Price Survival?) and Paul Chun (The Sand Pebbles), head the cast for the series which will be released over three seasons.
At the same time, a Departed television series is in development with Amazon, set in modern day Chicago, in the middle of a brutal conflict between ethnic drug gangs. Once again the premise is that the police department sends in a young cop to go undercover in a ruthless Latino gang while the gang itself has a man they’ve placed in the police department. And, as with the movies, the two are trying to do their jobs without blowing their covers while also trying to expose each other.
