Weinsteins Set to Remake Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai
A couple years ago, I remember hearing some rumblings about a possible remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai (widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time). There was one rumour in particular that stated that Donnie Yen, George Clooney and Zhang Ziyi had been approached by The Weinstein Company to star. It all seemed a bit outrageous at the time, but now it looks like at least part of the story is true. The Weinsteins are indeed developing a remake of Seven Samurai, although they seem to be keeping it on the DL for the time being.
Hidden in a short article at Variety about their new Asian Film Fund, there is mention of a new movie called Shanghai, starring John Cusack, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe, and also a movie called Seven Samurai: “Seven Samurai will start shooting in the fourth quarter for release in 2009. The cast will feature American, European and Asian stars, and a director is in advanced talks with TWC.”
While there have been a few films over the years that have “re-imagined” Seven Samurai, I don’t think there has been a straight up remake yet. It certainly sounds like that is what they are aiming for, however. The idea is sure to piss off plenty of people who will worry that a timeless classic is going to be completely shat on. Then again, what else is new? I’m sure a remake of Citizen Kane is just around the corner.
Comments (11)
Fucking hell. Why don’t you just shit in my mouth Harvey?
Posted by Matt Gamble on April 16th, 2008To quote Jay: “It’ll be shit. Cocksuckers.”
To quote Greg: “I haven’t even seen the original, so I don’t care.”
To quote Sean: “It could be okay– I guess we’ll see.”
I say– enough with the remakes. Half of the people today don;t even know what Seven Samurai is, and would probably not be in for a remake. It’s a shame people refuse to just watch old movies.
Posted by Jon Rocks on April 16th, 2008Jon Rocks your impression is spot on.
Posted by Henrik on April 16th, 2008lmao @ Jon Rocks.
Posted by Itchy-Finger on April 16th, 2008Just so I’m not as predictable as I might seem, I will say that I have NOT seen Seven Samurai.
I have the second criterion release and it’s on my long list of films to watch.
Posted by Jay C. on April 16th, 2008Whhhhhyyyyyyyyy????
Posted by Derek on April 16th, 2008I could care less how many bad remakes are made… I’ll keep watching the originals.
Posted by joe on April 16th, 2008TWC has a death wish. The boys over there are going to hit a brick wall at some point and have to pack it in. A remake of Seven Samurai? Are there no original scripts left? I’m with everyone else, this is a stupid idea but to be honest, I don’t really care either way. If it sucks – there’s a very high probability of this – I’ll just revert to the original. The sad part is that a load of people will probably go out to see this and never even realize that a (likely better) original even exists.
Posted by Marina on April 16th, 2008Meh. I could care less. It’s been remade so many times anyway, some of them even considered classics.
Posted by Swarez on April 16th, 2008It’s a classic tale that can be told many times over in a different setting.
I’ve enjoyed the anime adaptation and all of that but fuck this. I wonder if Tom Cruise and Will Smith will star?
Posted by Ian on April 16th, 2008This just ruined my day.
I never thought Weinstein of all people would buy into the “pre-sold” methodology of filmmaking/marketing. Sad day for us all.
Posted by roman on April 17th, 2008Leave a Reply