Warner to remake Unforgiven in Japan

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Production News

Warner Bros is to produce a Japanese remake of Unforgiven (pictured), an Oscar-winning Western classic that was originally directed by and starred Clint EASTWOOD.

The new film will be directed by LEE Sang-il 李相日 and star WATANABE Ken 渡辺謙. The story will be relocated to late 19th century Hokkaido with Watanabe playing a fearsome, impoverished samurai who is tempted back into action one last time.

Two months of production will start in mid-Sep. Also starring are EMOTO Akira 柄本明 and SATO Koichi 佐藤浩市. The release is tentatively set for autumn 2013.

The project boasts numerous quirky personal connections and coincidences.

Eastwood spent virtually his entire directing and producing career based at Warner Bros. Warner is the most active local producer in Japan among Hollywood studios. Eastwood and Watanabe previously worked together on Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), which Warner released in many international territories. And Eastwood's early acting career received a major boost when he starred in A Fistful of Dollars, a remake of KUROSAWA Akira 黒澤明's Japanese classic Yojimbo 用心棒 (1961).

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