Concubine Character Creates Casting Confusion

[Mulboyne]

Bookstandard: Deal Set for Keira Knightley, Michael Pitt 'Silk' Adaptation

Picturehouse and New Line International have acquired rights to Francois Girard's Silk, a world-hopping romantic drama based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco which Kirkus Reviews deemed "masterly, with a wrenching climax and denouement"...Silk is the story of Herve Joncour, a 19th-century French silkworm merchant who travels to Japan, where he begins a forbidden romance...more...

Joncour's romance is with the local baron's concubine. In the book, she is described as having "European eyes". It is unclear whether the filmakers have decided to make the character completely European or have just elected to cast a Western actress. Many news sites assume that Keira Knightley is the love interest but her character's name - "Helene" - is that of Joncour's wife in the book which leaves the matter open. To further muddy the waters, the Yamagata Shimbun (no link) mentions that Miki Nakatani will also take part in the Japan-based scenes.
[t]japan[/t] [t]movies[/t] [t]media[/t] [t]keiraknightley[/t] [t]silk[/t] [t]book[/t] [t]adaptation[/t]

[Taro Toporific]

....the book which leaves the matter open. To further muddy the waters...

Damn, the "book" is vaguer than a haiku.
The movie is going to be more smoke and mirrors than "Sayuri" <saaaaa>.
Here are the first couple of pages of Silk:

[Mulboyne]

This look fun too...

KillerMovies: Tom Pabst To Write 'Turbulence' Drama

Tom Pabst has been hired by Universal Pictures to write the drama Turbulence, says Variety. The story follows an L.A.-based pilot who is frustrated by his life until, over the course of several flights to Tokyo, he stumbles on a conspiracy that fascinates him. Soon, he's drawn to commit a crime that leads him into the arms of a beautiful woman and into the Tokyo underworld.

[Mulboyne]

Japan Times: Once again, here comes the West to the 'Orient'

It took a long time for me to recover from the blast of bullsh*t Orientalism that was "Memoirs of a Geisha." There were the usual symptoms: nausea, shaky hands and an attack of shudders every time I passed by the Oriental Bazaar on Tokyo's Omotesando avenue, among others. A lengthy period of rehab had buried the nightmare, until an encounter with the film "Silk" ― based on a popular novel by Italy's Alessandro Baricco ― literally caused the chopsticks to drop from my hands with a dramatic clatter..."Silk"...is immersed in the stereotypical East Asian exoticism of demure geisha and samurai ethics . . . and a deep down, hopeful belief that these things still exist over here. From the Far East to Western cinema: Please, just try one of our toilet seats and forget the samurai stuff...more...

[yt]IyFVnD1Xtz0[/yt]