KenWatanabe Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Tarantino Teases 'Kill Bill 3' - Here's Five People Who Should Star
Filed under: RumorMonger », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Quentin Tarantino », Remakes and Sequels »
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The energetic Quentin Tarantino was out and about promoting Inglourious Basterds in Italy, and seeing as he was in the homeland of his hostess spaghetti western, he teased everyone by promising Kill Bill 3. Again. Bad Taste reports that while on Italian talkshow Parla Con me, he prompted his hostess, Serena Dandini, to ask him whether there would be a continuation of the Bride's saga. When I say prompted, I mean it literally. "You didn't ask me whether there will be a third installment, a Kill Bill Vol 3!" Dandini obliged him by asking, and Tarantino said "Yes! The Bride will fight again ... I want ten years to pass between the second one and the third one. Two reasons. I think Uma [Thurman] and I needed a ten year break because the first one was so hard. The second one is that I love the character a lot. I just really really love her. And I think she deserves ten years of peace. ... I put her through a lot in those first two movies, and I wanted her to have a nice, peaceful life for ten years. I want her to put up her sword, and have some peace. And in ten years, something will happen to make her fight again."
Tarantino has been teasing us with a continuation for awhile now (usually themed around the daughter of Vernita Green), so it's hard to get too excited. It's also awfully hard to make predictions as to who or what would cause the Bride to fight again as she did leave most of her enemies in pieces. But we can cast our votes as to who we would like to see as the Bride's villains. Here's five of the people I'd like to see in a Tarantino flick, and I hope some of you have even cooler suggestions ...
Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy Join Nolan's 'Inception'
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », RumorMonger »
Here's what we currently know about Christopher Nolan's between-Batmans project, Inception:- It is not, as initially asserted by a commenter, concerning "a war for the colonization of Venus."
- It is more likely along the lines of a sci-fi action film "set within the architecture of the mind" (which, coming from the brains behind The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento, is a scary-thrilling thought).
- Currently on board are Leonardo DiCaprio (as some sort of CEO), Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine...
Sorry to be Avatar-level vague, but with a cast like this and a crew like that, there's little left to do but twiddle our thumbs and hope for the best between now and next summer. Either that, or Nolan just recast most of the third Batman film and doesn't want Christian Bale to know...
'Shanghai' Welcomes Ken Watanabe to Romantic War Mystery
Filed under: Action », Drama », Romance », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », The Weinstein Co. »
We first caught wind of Shanghai this past summer, as part of the announcement that The Weinstein Co. had landed $285 million to make Asian-themed films. At the time it was described simply as "an action epic set during World War II." A few months later, James Rocchi told us that John Cusack was in negotiations to star as "an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend." James noted that the beautiful Gong Li had already been cast, and that director Mikael Håfström was on board. Cusack and Håfström previously worked together on 1408.Variety Asia Online is reporting that another piece of the puzzle has been added: Ken Watanabe has joined the cast. No details are offered about the role he will play, though the article fleshes out the plot a little. Referring to the character that will be played by Cusack (now confirmed to star), the article states: "While trying to solve the murder [of his friend], he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding." Hossein Amini wrote the script; he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on The Wings of the Dove, and also adapted Jude as well as the more recent Killshot.
Watanabe has great presence; he shot to prominence opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai and was memorable in both Batman Begins and Letters from Iwo Jima; he also received kudos for his work as a businessman beset by Alzheimer's Disease in Memories of Tomorrow. During the time period covered in the upcoming film, Shanghai was occupied by Japan, but, as noted above, we'll have to wait and see which part the Japanese-born Watanabe will play. Production is expected to start this spring in Shanghai. Watanabe was also recently cast in Cirque du Freak, which rolls this month, but I presume the filming schedules are compatible.
Ken Watanabe Joins 'Cirque du Freak'
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Casting », Family Films »
Come one, come all! We've got two meddlesome kids (Josh Hutcherson and Chris Kelly), one of whom becomes the catalyst for a war between the vampires and the Vampanese. We've got a centuries-old vamp who owns a very large and special spider (John C. Reilly). And lastly, we've got one of the sexiest bearded ladies this side of beardonia (Salma Hayek). What else could a Cirque du Freak want?Variety reports that the next ingredient in this bloody recipe is Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, or better yet, Ra's Al Ghul). He'll play Mr. Tall, "the barker for the Cirque" -- you know, the dude who tries to attract passerby into the big tent with promises of all sorts of joy and wonder. The film, coming from Brian Helgeland's script and Paul Weitz's directorial hand, is about a young kid who is drafted to become an old vampire's assistant. The kid then, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your POV), gets made half-vamp and becomes that pesky catalyst.
Now a Cirque can't rely only on an old vamp, a spider (who will voice her, anyway?), and a bearded lady -- unless Mr. Tall is that good -- so I imagine we should get some more casting bites soon enough. Production is set to role next month.
Tony Leung Steps In For Chow Yun-Fat In 'Red Cliff'
Filed under: Action », Drama », Foreign Language », Casting », Cinematical Indie », War »
It isn't uncommon for an actor to drop completely out of a movie, but how often does it happen that an actor drops out and then is later re-cast in a different role? That seems to be what is going on with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and the Chinese epic The Battle of Red Cliff. Leung left the project a month ago claiming he didn't have time to prepare for his role (though there were other rumors), but now he's returned to the John Woo film, which has already begun shooting. Because his original part ended up going to another actor, Takeshi Kaneshiro, he is now likely attached to a different character than the one he abandoned.
The most simple speculation is that Leung is taking over for Chow Yun-Fat, who this week suddenly departed from the project, similarly claiming an inability to sufficiently prepare. For some reason Red Cliff producer Terence Chang won't specify which character Leung will play nor will he confirm that the actor is replacing Chow. The only things he will say is that all these casting changes are not affecting the shoot and that Chow's absence is not affecting the financing of the film. Hopefully more will be revealed about Leung's involvement when he arrives on set next week -- unless, of course, he drops back out. Maybe the next thing we hear will be that Ken Watanabe is back on the film, too, as a replacement for the replacement.
Star-Studded Cast for Woo's Battle
Filed under: Action », Drama », Foreign Language », Casting », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
The last we heard about John Woo's long-simmering The Battle of Red Cliff was back in February, at which point there were rumors that it actually might be moving forward. And now, a mere seven months later, the project finally has financing lined up, a cast in place, and a confirmed start date. Woo (if you will) hoo! For those of you who have forgotten, the movie is based on a classic Chinese novel, and tells the true story of "the final days of the Han Dynasty in the year 208, ... [covering] the war that established the Three Kingdoms period, when China had three rulers." The central battle of that war took place, as you might have guessed, at Red Cliffs, and involved as many as a million soldiers. Damn.Surprisingly, the mutterings about the cast have turned out to be mostly true: This morning's Variety reports that the film will star frequent Woo collaborator (back in the Hong Kong days) Chow Yun-Fat, as well as Ken Watanabe, Tony Leung and Lin Chi-Ling, who apparently is a Taiwanese model. The IMDb also lists Andy Lau in the cast, but his presence is unconfirmed.
Production is expected to begin next March, with release planned for early 2008.
Watanabe on Eastwood's Iwo Jima
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Casting », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Confirming consistent internet rumors, it was
announced yesterday that Ken
Watanabe will star in the Japanese half of Clint
Eastwood's Iwo Jima project, Red Sun, Black Sand. Watanabe will play Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the general who
led the Japanese forces on the island; the movie's story takes its inspiration from letters the general wrote during the
battle. Also in the cast are Shido
Nakamura, The screenplay for Red Sun is almost entirely in Japanese (Yay! Thank the Lord they didn't take the ever-popular The Hunt for Red October approach, and have all the characters speak English - except not really.), and was written by Iris Yamashita after she and Paul Haggis (who wrote Flags of Our Fathers, the American half of the project) collaborated on a general outline. Eastwood, who is currently wrapping up post-production on Flags, plans to begin shooting next week in LA; the plan is to release both films later this year, with Flags coming first.
John Woo's Red Cliffs moving forward?
Filed under: Action », Drama », Foreign Language », Casting », RumorMonger », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
First reports of John
Woo's The Battle of the Red Cliff surfaced as much as 18
months ago, and details have been few and far between since then - in fact, some have wondered if, like a lot other
announced Woo projects, this one might never advance beyond the discussion stages.Based on a portion of a 14th century novel about a real-life battle in 208AD (got that?) involving over a million soldiers, the story of the film is wildly complicated. To sum up, "During the battle the joint force of two warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated the much stronger invading army led by warlord Cao Cao. Shortly after the battle, the Han dynasty officially ended and China split to three kingdoms." Needless to say, there are a whole lot of details not included there, and Woo claimed from the very beginning that the movie would be sprawling and expensive; current speculation puts the budget at about $50 million, which would make it the most expensive film ever produced on the Chinese mainland.
The fact that the movie was originally slated to shoot last year makes it hard to believe any start dates at this point, but a target of September 2006 has been pretty consistent as of late, so the production just might finally be getting off the ground. There is also a fleet of stars supposedly in negotiations to appear in the film, among them Chow yun-Fat, Tony Leung (the one from Chungking Express and 2046, not the other one), and Ken Watanabe. Man, if this movie ever comes out, I am so there.
[via Twitch]
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