Warner Japan to remake 'Unforgiven', directed by Lee Sang-il

[BigInJapan]

Warner Japan to remake 'Unforgiven'
Clint Eastwood western will become a samurai drama
By Mark Schilling

unforgiven[1].jpg

TOKYO -- Warner Japan plans to remake the 1992 Clint Eastwood western "The Unforgiven" as a samurai period drama with Ken Watanabe playing the Eastwood role as a retired gunman taking one last job.
Helmer will be Lee Sang-il, who made "Villain," which swept the actor awards at the 2011 Japan Academy Prize ceremony.
Akira Emoto and Koichi Sato are also starring in the pic, skedded for a fall 2013 bow in Japan under the title "Yurusarezaru mono" (Japanese for "Unforgiven").
As in the original, the story will be set in 1880, with the location changed to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, a time when Japanese settlers were displacing the native Ainu people.
Watanabe plays a samurai with a fearsome reputation as a swordsman who is living in retirement with his Ainu wife when poverty and a large bounty tempt him into action again.
Eastwood himself shot to stardom in a remake of a Japanese film: Sergio Leone's 1964 "A Fistful of Dollars," which was based on the 1961 Akira Kurosawa samurai swashbuckler, "Yojimbo."
Kurosawa's 1954 pic "Seven Samurai" was similarly remade as the 1960 John Sturges-helmed western, "The Magnificent Seven."
"Yurusarezaru mono" will shoot from September to November in Hokkaido.

(Director Lee Sang-il is a semi-FG, Zainichi Korean, born in Japan.)

[Taro Toporific]

Eastwood himself shot to stardom in a remake of a Japanese film: Sergio Leone's 1964 "A Fistful of Dollars," which was based on the 1961 Akira Kurosawa samurai swashbuckler, "Yojimbo."
Kurosawa's 1954 pic "Seven Samurai" was similarly remade as the 1960 John Sturges-helmed western, "The Magnificent Seven."

I had to double check to see if Unforgiven was "inspired" a samurai story. Nope, but it is sure a damn good fit for a samurai remake.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've never thought of samurai as swashbucklers.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Watanabe: New 'Unforgiven' honors great filmmaking

The Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" isn't a mere cross-cultural adaptation but more a tribute to the universal spirit of great filmmaking for its star Ken Watanabe.

"I was convinced from the start that this will be an original Japanese movie in its own right," said Watanabe, who has become the go-to Japanese actor for Hollywood.

Watanabe was happy Eastwood welcomed the idea of the remake, and they kept in touch. But, once the shooting began, he was focused on delivering what director Lee Sang-il wanted in the new movie, not an easy re-interpretation.

[matsuki]

While I do look forward to this...

this will be an original Japanese movie

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I've never thought of samurai as swashbucklers.

They are as fucking boring as Westerns...(although I loved the Lone Ranger, which was really just <swashbuckling>Capt. Jack Sparrow doing redface, rather than being a Western but...)