ken watanabe Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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...

...and, according to THR, rounding out the ensemble (for now) are Ken "Batman Begins" Watanabe as a blackmailing villain and Tom "apparently awesome in Bronson" Hardy as a colleague of DiCaprio's.

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...

As I reported in December, Danny and Oxide Pang (Bangkok Dangerous, The Messengers) were hired to direct the sequel to action fantasy The Storm Riders. More details have surfaced at the Hong Kong Filmart, according to Variety. Filming begins next month with original stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng set to return; Simon Yam, Nicholas Tse, and Charlene Choi will also star. The picture will be the first Hong Kong movie filmed exclusively on blue screen, a la 300, though the budget is just $12 million, compared to 300's estimated cost of $65 million. The Storm Riders II is due for release at the end of 2009.

Variety is also reporting that the wonderfully versatile Gary Oldman is in "advanced negotiations" to star in Rain Fall, the "story of a hit man who is forced to protect the daughter of one of his victims against assassination by the C.I.A." If the deal goes through, Oldman would join Shiina Kippei (Shinobi) and actress Akiho Hasegawa. Max Mannix will direct the Japan-set thriller; veteran producer Satoru Iseki is employing "sophisticated Western financing techniques" to get the picture made.

We've been tracking World War II action epic Shanghai since last summer. Production was expected to start this spring in Shanghai, but the Chinese authorities denied the shooting permit after the Weinstein Co. had spent nearly three million dollars building sets. Variety says that production has now been shifted to Thailand and England, though there's no word on a new start date. The film will be directed by Mikael Håfström and stars John Cusack, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe.

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.

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.

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.

You can call it an accidental slip-up by a writer who wasn't aware of the fact that Brett Ratner wasn't officially signed on to Wolverine yet, or we could be looking at some actual news here. Either way, I'm not very excited. While spitting out a number of comic-related films currently in development, a writer for the Telegraph noted that the much-anticipated Wolverine spin-off flick will indeed be directed by Brett Ratner. Only problem is we had no idea he was attached to the project. Sure, there's been speculation ever since Ratner helmed X-Men: The Last Stand -- but so far the pic has not showed up on his future film slate; right now, he's wrapping up Rush Hour 3 (due in theaters later this summer) and in pre-production on an untitled comedy featuring Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.

With filming apparently set to begin this fall (we think?), chances are Ratner will make Wolverine his next pic ... regardless of whether fans think the dude is a craptastic director and, like, totally not worthy. Last we heard on the Wolverine front, Hugh Jackman was officially locked in to star, and a script (penned by David Benioff) was all but complete. A few characters rumored to appear in the film include William Stryker (Brian Cox) and Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai (Ken Watanabe?). Other than that, everyone involved has been keeping real quiet. Of course, when things are quiet, fans immediately question whether the project is still moving forward. Is Ratner stalling? Are they looking for a new director? Has Bryan Singer kidnapped Jackman? If you had the power to make decisions -- and keep in mind there's no way Singer will be able to fit this film into his schedule if he still intends on making that Superman sequel -- who would you choose to direct Wolverine?

In 1997, Clint Eastwood's film Absolute Power irked the Asian community for its depiction of a thoughtless, insulting Asian stereotype, a waiter in a restaurant scene. Now, ten years later, Eastwood has completely redeemed any questions from that incident with this companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, the flipside of the Iwo Jima conflict told entirely from the point of view of the Japanese. The film opened a few weeks ago in Japan, reportedly to enthusiastic response, prompting Warner Bros to change the release date from February of 2007 to December, qualifying it for awards.

Letters from Iwo Jima is significantly more interesting than its predecessor, not only because it's more focused, but also because it raises some interesting issues of cultural representation. Eastwood seems to have been very careful in his depiction, hiring the Japanese-American screenwriter Iris Yamashita to handle the details (though Westerner Paul Haggis has a co-story credit). Now we have Japanese characters that misunderstand and misrepresent their American counterparts, believing that they're cowardly and undisciplined. But amazingly, Letters from Iwo Jima is still a Clint Eastwood piece, full of his singular bravado.

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.

Odds and ends from Tuesday:

• Seeing as I'm a 29-year-old man who, as of this minute, does not father any children nor hang out with and/or babysit the little buggers, it's safe to say I'm probably not the world's greatest expert on Bratz dolls. Apparently, they seem to be pretty popular, with over 400 licenses and distribution across 65 countries. How come I don't have one yet? Anyway, Variety reports that MGA Entertainment, Crystal Sky Pictures and Avi Arad are teaming up to produce and finance a live-action Bratz film. John Doolittle will write the screenplay, with production to begin this fall. Yay!
• Kate Hudson and Ken Watanabe have signed on to star in A Dream of Red Mansions, to be directed by Bruce Beresford. Set in 1949 and using the Chinese Revolution as a backdrop, pic is inspired by a true story and will focus on the romance between an American photojournalist (Hudson) and an idealistic revolutionary (Watanabe). Damn you Ken -- why can't she fall for some dorky movie news writer instead?
• While it may not be considered his greatest film, you have to admit there's something inside of you that craves Mel Brooks' Spaceballs. C'mon, you've got John Candy, Bill Pullman and Rick Moranis in their prime ... not to mention Daphne Zuniga! Wait, whatever happened to her? In a recent interview with TV Guide, Brooks admits that more Spaceballs may indeed be on the way. "There is a shot at Spaceballs becoming a half-hour animated TV series. I wouldn't mind doing the voice for President Skroob or Yoghurt, if they wanted me to. So I'm hoping that will happen with Spaceballs." Hey, I'm hoping it happens too!