Ken Watanabe to Star in Warner Japan’s UNFORGIVEN Remake

by Adam Chitwood Posted 303 days ago

ken-watanabe-unforgiven-slice

Warner Japan is plotting a remake of Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western Unforgiven, and Ken Watanabe (Inception, Letters from Iwo Jima) has been tapped to star. Variety reports that Watanabe will lead the samurai period drama under the direction of Lee Sang-il (Villain). The story will again be set in 1880, but the location has been changed to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido at a time when Japanese settlers were displacing the native Ainu people. Watanabe will play “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’s film was a brilliant take on the Western genre as it touched on the darker aspects of the Old West of legend. The film took home Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing, with Gene Hackman winning Best Supporting Actor. This new remake, titled Yurusarezaru mono, is slated for a fall 2013 release in Japan.

Sponsored Content

Please Like Collider on Facebook

Tags:

Ken Watanabe, Lee Sang-il, Unforgiven, Warner Japan, Yurusarezaru mono

Related Links:

« When Will We See Smaug in THE HOBBIT?

Paul Thomas Anderson Talks THE MASTER; Unused Scenes from THERE WILL BE BLOOD Were Reworked for the Film [Updated with New Clip] »

Comments:

Tey

Ken Watanabe? I’m in
schneebles

Westerns stole from Japan for twenty years… time to steal back! I’m stoked.
- tanner
  
  You do realize that one of the most popular film genres in Japan, the Yakuza film, took it’s cues from American gangster films.
  
  Not to mention the fact that a lot of anime was heavily inspired by Disney animation. The big and colorful eyes we see in anime and manga was the result of Osamu Tezuka fascination with Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop.
  
  Westerns were a big influence on Japanese samurai films.
  
  Early American slapstick found it’s way into Japanese cinema and is still prevalent to this day.
  
  Even filming techniques were adopted into Japanese cinema. Some of Japan’s most heralded filmmakers list John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock as their inspirations.
  
  It’s not stealing, it’s borrowing and it’s been going back and forth since the beginning of cinema.
will

It’s weird to see the Hollywood process in reverse, with Japan remaking a Hollywood movie as opposed to the other way around. That said, Unforgiven could translate well to a samurai story.

Demand Media Entertainment