If there is one country that knows how to create some visually innovate stories it’s Japan. Which is why the country is source to so many Hollywood remakes today. Mostly from the horror genre, but also recently through various other anime stories getting remade for a Westernized audience. And another remake that is on its way is Shield of Straw, a recent Japanese thriller directed by cult favourite filmmaker Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer, Audition).
The English language adaptation is set to be written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen). Not the first pair I would think of, but they have taken a simple concept and turned it into box office success, so I guess the studio likes them as a pair. EuropaCorp has secured the rights for this adaptation and are looking to replicate the film’s local success to a global audience. No director has yet been secured for the project.
Shield of Straw tells the story of a team of five police officers charged with protecting an accused killer who has been marked for death by the billionaire grandfather of his latest victim. The film was a finalist in the competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and was a huge theatrical success that year in Japan.
Speaking to Comingsoon.net EuropaCorp President Lisa Ellzey had the following to say about the project:
We are thrilled at the prospect of bringing the remake of the Japanese thriller Shield of Straw to American audiences and the world-wide market. This film is right on brand for EuropaCorp, and we look forward to working with the filmmakers on this project.
Kazuhiro Kiuchi, the author of the novel which the film is based on, is also similarly excited about the movie:
I’m thrilled to learn that the Hollywood film production based on my debut novel ‘Wara no Tate’ is proceeding smoothly. With EuropaCorp’s involvement in the project, it’s exciting to consider the prospects of the film being set in the U.S. where we’ll see the characters speeding via train through cities across the country. As a fan of the original film, I look forward to seeing this new version.
All that excitement is great to see, but that won’t guarantee a great movie. I’ve never seen the original, but have typically found most Japanese remakes fall well short of their originals and a large part of the stories get lost in translation (Editor’s note: Martin Scorsese’s The Departed may be the exception). So paint me skeptical about this, but hopefully I am proven wrong when the film eventually gets released.
Last Updated: October 26, 2016
