Weinsteins to remake The Seven Samurai
So, I was checking the film news blurbs over at the IMDB, and came across this:
The Weinstein Co. announced plans Wednesday to invest $285 million In Asian-themed projects, including a remake of the 1954 Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai. In a statement, company said that it had also invested an undisclosed amount in the martial arts film The Forbidden Kingdom, which pairs Jet Li and Jackie Chan. The film company founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein said that it hopes to impart a “Western sensibility” to the productions in the hopes of producing movies that appeal to both Asia and the West.
Now, it’s hard to find a Japanese filmmaker with a more “Western sensibility” than Kurosawa, so I’m not exactly sure what they’re trying to say here. Maybe they’ll introduce fart jokes and racial humor for the midwesterners? Oh well. But, to be fair, Seven Samurai has been remade a number of times, including The Magnificent Seven and A Bug’s Life. Furthermore, the Weinsteins have been demonstrating a substantial amount of goodwill toward at least the Chinese films they’ve been releasing (uncut and subtitled) through their Dragon Dynasty label. I really haven’t seen them handle anything Japanese recently, save for Zatoichi…which kind of fell under their old practices.
Update: I was talking to AICN’s Moriarty yesterday and he said that the Weinsteins were looking into the Seven Samurai remake because they wanted to work with Zhang Ziyi (confirming some of commenter Keller’s suspicions below). This would be a straight remake (ie: Samurai instead of cowboys or bugs), fully in line with the original. Again, were it the work of another Japanese director, I might be a bit worried about the production. The Weinsteins are without a doubt great fans of Chinese cinema, but I’m not sure how familiar they are with Japanese films, and thereby the great difference in tone between the cinema of the two countries. On the whole I find the Japanese films to be quieter, more thoughtful, and possessing more artistic merit than the majority of Chinese films, or American films for that matter. This, of course, is open to debate, considering the plethora of exploitation fare found in either country’s cinema, but even in one-off outings such as New Years films (The Wow-Choten Hotel vs. Shopaholics) I think the difference is noticeable. Still, this being a Kurosawa film, and very much in line with the historical American western as far as tone and narrative structure is concerned, I wouldn’t imagine there would be too much to tinker with. Still, I would kind of like to see Yukie Nakama get a role over Zhang Ziyi, especially in a film guaranteed a good deal of attention in American cinemas.
As far as Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s The Forbidden Kingdom, it will be nice to see it on big screens here, but I’ll probably pick it up on Clement street before that even happens.
Anyone else willing to share their thoughts on these?
Maybe they’ll make it all Memoirs like, and have Chow Yun Fat and Jackie Chan playing “samurize”. Then they could have Jessica Alba and Josh Hartnet play the young couple. Then they could have the whole thing take place in Peru, where they would meet up with Chris Tucker and Oprah and they would fight off some pygmie boy scouts. But they need a few more people, so maybe ron perlman and kane hodder and orlando jones could be added to the mix. Then you could add Julie Delpy and have her do her french stuff at the top of a mountain. The whole thing would be 75 minutes long so as to allow for 30 minutes of pre-show “entertainment” and Americans won’t get bored and the soccer moms won’t get confused. Sounds good, right?
other than $$$, my question is…
why?
It’s all about the Cheddar. I don’t think they like to make original movies these days. Sequel or remake, otherwise your project won’t get off the ground. Sad.
As a good friend and great critic Jason Shawan puts it, the Weinsteins are a pox on cinema. I heard about this remake awhile ago along with the buzz that it’s being done in order to work with Ziyi, or at least as a “vehicle” for her. The role she’s obviously suited for isn’t all that big, so I would imagine either she’s going to be one of the seven or the romantic angle would be expanded or some other tom foolery they might drum up. I think after THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and Samurai 7 the world is fine with remakes.
This is Oscar bait, and such an obvious play to the Academy it’s sickening. I don’t know about “cheddar,” I don’t know how this becomes a huge grosser. Would it get a summer release? Doubt it.
I have to mention the bit about Japanese films having more artistic merit than Chinese films. Even as big a fan of Japanese cinema as I am, my jaw dropped a little bit.
Hey Gandalf,
I would still stick by my statement of Chinese Cinema vs Japanese cinema. When referring to Chinese films I am not including the works of Taiwanese masters, such as Ming-liang Tsai and Hou Hsiao-Hsien (born in China, but raised in Taiwan). I think Johnny To, arguably one of the most notable film directors in China right now, has more of an Argento style over substance thing going on. His films are rarely consistent in tone or quality the whole way through. Zhang Yimou seems to have lost touch with what made him great in the first place, and Wong Kar Wai, while amusing in a sort of pop-MTV-philosophy sense, doesn’t really do as much for me anymore.
In support of the thoughtful Japanese cinema I would present Kore Eda Hirokazu, Takeshi Kitano’s quieter pictures, Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring and later), the old masters (Ozu, Ichikawa, Shinoda, Teshigahara), Imamura, Itami, and possibly even Koki Mitani.
But I am not alone in my opinion. In his intro to the Japanese Cinema Essential Handbook, Max Allen Collins, in comparing the cinema of Hong Kong and Japan writes that Japanese cinema has a “more varied degree of subject matter and higher degree of craft and artistry” than Hong Kong films. While admittedly Hong Kong films are a subsection of the Chinese film industry, I think the statement can support my position.
But, like I said, I’ll leave this open for debate :)
What are your favorite Chinese directors, by the way?
Cheater! Leaving out Hou, Tsai, and the late Edward Yang is unfair. I don’t agree with the recent criticism of Yimou’s (and Kaige’s) turn towards big spectacle cinema. Their work is still rigorous and as visceral as before. Wai, who is probably my favorite (I have to note that I’m no auteurist), continues to amaze. The flashy stuff he did was very much of it’s time, and FALLEN ANGELS is probably my favorite, however the more meditative films like ASHES OF TIME and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE are right up there. I don’t know what everyone likes about CHUNGKING EXPRESS. Guess I can’t include Ann Hui because she’s half Japanese? :) And going way back, I go with King Hu.
Truth is I have more Japanese films in the rack than Chinese. Thinking of the recent state of Japanese film (did you leave out Naomi Kawase on purpose?) however I didn’t understand. Japan has a richer history of film, I’d agree, and would a lot of critics who firmly believe that Japanese film is “dead,” something I’d disagree with as well.
It’s blasphemy, but I’m not a big Ozu fan.
My thoughts are, if Taiwan doesn’t consider itself part of China, why should we consider its cinema as Chinese cinema? If England still maintained a colonial interest in the states, would we consider American cinema British cinema? Probably not.
However, if China should ever go about “retaking” Taiwan, then maybe I could consider Taiwanese cinema as a subset of Chinese cinema.
Ann Hui, whose work I have not seen, would be perfectly fine to include in your list because she worked in Hong Kong cinema.
I did not include Kawase because, frankly, I have not seen any of her work :)
To be honest, on my Best of 2006 list I included two Chinese films (The Banquet and Dog Bite Dog), and this year I will have to add A Battle of Wits. But still, I think my favorite films on the list would have to be the Japanese inclusions. Even the completely perverse Rampo Jigoku has an undeniable skill and beauty that begs for a second viewing.
I too disagree with the notion that Japanese cinema is “dead”. It’s just that the films aren’t being given as much a chance with foreign distributors as they had in the past. Luckily I am blessed with at killer Japanese videostore down the street from us, so I have been able to check out Hanging Garden, Stereo Future, Runin, and other “quieter”, “thoughtful” films that haven’t yet seen release in America. And for those that have, some are completely astounding. Although I initially dismissed Sion Sono, his work with Hazard and Strange Circus has made me realize he is a director to watch in the coming years. Even Katsuhito Ishii, with his crazy flashy Sharkskin Man and Party 7 showed an impressive amount of artistry with his A Taste of Tea.
Sort of off topic, but going back to the 70’s there’s the beauty found in cult exploitationers by Norifumi Suzuki, Shunya Ito, and Teruo Ishii. When compared to the Kung Fu films released at the same time in China, they have my vote hands down.
I’ve actually had a couple discussions with my Chinese friends regarding Chinese cinema in the past. One girl asked me why I watched Chinese cinema, because all the films were “crap.” I mentioned Wong Kar Wai and the like, but she said “nope, all crap.” I had a similar discussion later with another friend, who supplied me with a lot of Hong Kong films, after growing weary of the unbalanced comedies he kept giving me. I said a bunch of the films were really stupid, and I couldn’t finish them. He said “That’s why I watch them. I don’t want to think. I like Chinese films because they are stupid”. It kind of leads me to believe that the American perception of Chinese film is actually higher than that of native Chinese. This is no doubt because the Chinese films the average American viewer are aware of are limited to those gems that get release stateside, rather than the plethora of Mei-Ah and Tai Seng releases I come across here in California. It’s also worth noting that most of my friends have not thought anything of Johnny To’s Exiled, which is getting quite a bit of acclaim online.
So, I kind of hope I explained myself a bit more. I will make sure to check out Kawase and Ann Hui. I definitely agree with you on Fallen Angels and In The Mood for Love, but maybe not so much on Ashes of Time (though my opinion may be influenced by the rather strange subtitles found on my DVD). I didn’t dig Chungking Express the first time I saw it, but upon seeing it again I loved it. I think I’ve seen it three times now, and it’s a blast.
The Ozu thing…yah, I can see that :)
Btw, any favorites of late that you would recommend?
Hmmm…interesting. I don’t know what to think about this one. One benefit of a remake is that the original film will probably get some additional love – thanks to the Hollywood marketing machine. Bad news? It will probably be ultra-violent, too contemporary and will not adhere to Japanese history (ie let’s pretend China is Japan), lol.
True. I guess the Wicker Man remake actually got people to check out the original as well. But why not just re-release the original?
I found this the other day:
Taiwan criticized the Venice International Film Festival on Tuesday for listing a movie by Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee as originating in “Taiwan, China,” a label that suggests the self-ruled island is part of mainland China. …
In a statement on its Web site, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council protested the Venice event’s use of “Taiwan, China” to identify movies from the island and blamed China for the move.
I guess in the light of this I would be inclined to agree with Chris.
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