Production wraps up this week in Hungary on "Blade of the 47 Ronin," a sequel to Universal's 2013 Japanese-themed action classic "47 Ronin." The new film represents a substantial revamp that emphasizes Asian fantasy female heroes and characters and addresses some of the cultural criticisms of the previous film starring Keanu Reeves.
The action jumps about 300 years to present-day Budapest, which is intended as a metaphor for the East-West confluence, and where a meeting of the five Samurai clans takes place. In addition to the male clan leaders, the meeting is also attended by three Onna Bugeisha (literally, "warrior women"), although their presence was initially resented. Production was handled by Universal Studios through its 1440 Productions unit for Netflix. The streamer is expected to launch it sometime in 2022, though a specific date is still unknown.
Director: Ron Yuan
Writers: Aimee Garcia, A.J. Mendez, John Swetnam
Stars: Anna Akana, Teresa Ting, Mike Moh
The existence of female Samurai who fought alongside their male colleagues in feudal Japan is well documented. But their stories have rarely been told due to social pressure and political upheaval. In "Blade," the women lead the campaign to reunite two halves of a mythical sword and keep it out of the hands of a villain who wants power for himself.
The cast is headed by: Anna Akana, American actress and YouTube creator; American martial artist Teresa Ting; Mike Moh, who played Bruce Lee in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"; veteran Vietnamese-American actor and filmmaker Dustin Nguyen (“Warrior”); Australian Chris Pang ("Charlie's Angels," "Crazy Rich Asians"); Japanese actor and model Chikako Fukuyama (“Terrace House: Aloha State”); and veteran stuntman Mark Dacascos ("John Wick 3," "Wu Assassins").
They are joined by Luna Fujimoto (Chinese hit “Monster Hunt 2” and upcoming “Wandering Earth 2”) as one of the three female leads; Koieyama Akira (“Samurai Marathon”, “47 Ronin”, “Sense8”); and Nino Furuhata (“Spaghetti Code Love”, “Tetris”, “The Limit of Sleeping Beauty”).
Where the previous "47 Ronin" was adapted from a comic book series, the new film is an original screenplay written by John Swetnam, along with comic writers Aimee Garcia and A.J. Mendez.
The ensemble consists of director Ron Yuan and producer Tim Kwok. Yuan is a multi-hyphenate Asian-American whose recent acting credits include Disney's "Mulan" and Warner's "The Accountant," and whose last directorial effort was the 2019 Lionsgate film "Step Up China."
Kwok is a Los Angeles-based veteran with producing credits including Jackie Chan's "The Medallion," the game adaptation starring Maggie Q "King of Fighters" and Malaysia's 2012 Oscar-nominated "Bunohan."
Yuan acknowledges that the earlier film was accused in some quarters of "whitewashing" and in others of distorting Japanese history through the use of elements such as Chinese-style dragons. “We need people who know the genres, people who know the story, people who can understand how to bring these stories, make them fresh, and come off the screen. Not like those old TV shows where every time there's an Asian theme, or an Asian character, you hear the gong go 'ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding dang,'" he told Variety. Nothing of that. more."
Yuan also wanted to use the sequel to give the franchise a facelift. “It was important that this new samurai and ninja culture could open up to different personalities, not only in the Asian world, but everywhere, making it more international,” he said. “It is a film in English. But I purposely have two of our actresses speak Japanese to each other. It's a tribute, but it's also just to let people know that they can speak Japanese, they can speak English, it doesn't have to be one or the other."
The film was delayed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was originally expected to shoot in Thailand. But when that became impossible, the production looked to other destinations, including Malaysia, New Zealand and Louisiana. They settled in Budapest, where Kwok was scheduled to film "Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac," a big-budget live-action adaptation of another Japanese IP for Toho Animation.
That required another rethink. “Originally, I wanted this whole cyberpunk world with Asian horizons and stuff. But I had filmed for five months in Budapest on 'Marco Polo' and I love the Hungarian teams. They work hard and are very talented,” Yuan said. "So, I talked to the production designer and decided to cyberpunk elements, but also make it more of a dystopian world."
Watch Blade of the 47 Ronin 2022 Movie Trailer
Comments
Post a Comment