Variety reports that Warner Japan will be remaking the modern Western classic as a Samurai film called Yurusarezaru mono (Japanese for "Unforgiven").
Ken Watanabe will play the same role as Clint Eastwood, replacing the gun for the sword. Pulled out of quiet retirement by a large bounty. Two other actors Akira Emoto and Koichi Sato will also star in the remake.
The remake will be directed by Lee Sang-il, who previously directed Villain ( Akunin), Best Film and Best Director winning 2011 Japan Academy Prize (equivalent of the Oscars).
The cultural mirroring between the Western and Samurai films has become more interesting to me. Seeing this Unforgiven remade as a Samurai film could be very interesting. Various western films have been inspired by samurai films like The Magnificant Seven being a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Clint Eastwood rose to fame as the man with no name from A Fist Full of Dollars itself based on the other Kurasawa film Yojimbo. More recently there was the South Korean film The Good, the Bad, the Weird a remake of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
