Keanu Reeves says that 47 Ronin will be a story of revenge and impossible love

Before Keanu Reeves re-joins Wyld Stallyns, he must enter the realm of the Samurai.

MTV caught up with Reeves to talk about his upcoming project, 47 RONIN. We haven’t received too many details on the film. Back in 2009, screenwriter Chris Morgan (WANTED) described the film as, “‘Gladiator’-esque, ‘300’-like big action movie with samurai and ninja” then elaborated a bit more, “It’s a time in Japanese culture when it was all about [the] bushido [code] and honor, and putting internal things over external things — swords that were made to be functional instead of ornamental, that kind of stuff. This turning point in the culture when that started to shift. Society started to be more about external kind of things. The story is about these samurai whose lord is killed in an unfair way.”

The film has been a passion project years in the making for Reeves and director Carl Erik Rinsch (THE GIFT). Reeves gave his take on the plot, “Well, it’s in 3D. It’s a kind of western. I call it a story of revenge and impossible love. The samurai become outcast and decide to enact revenge on the person who is responsible for the death of their lord.” Reeves plays a character called Kai who he describes as, “an outsider, a kind of half-breed with a mysterious past, who’s in love with the princess and she’s in love with me, but we can’t be together.” The actor then adds this little tidbit at the end, “But during the course of events, during this kind of journey of revenge, things change.”

Something else interesting to note, Reeves will be doing a sword fight with co-star Hiroyuki Sanada (THE LAST SAMURAI, SUNSHINE). Reeves recalled, “[I] just finished a sword fight a couple of weeks ago with a great actor named Hiroyuki Sanada. He’s fantastic.”

If you want, check out the interview below.