Ken Watanabe will star in a Japanese samurai remake of Unforgiven

Bucking the trend of an American remake of a foreign film, Warner Bros. will be financing a remake of Best Picture winner UNFORGIVEN in Japan.

Ken Watanabe will star in YURUSAREZARU MONO (A THING THAT CAN’T BE FORGIVEN) for director Lee Sang-Il. The film will take place in 1880, just like UNFORGIVEN, but the backdrop will shift from cowboys to samurai warriors.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Watanabe will play a samurai with a violent past, who lives on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido with his Ainu (the aboriginal people of the island) wife, but is brought out of retirement for one last job.

Clint Eastwood’s western was a massive success back in 1992 and nabbed Oscars for picture, director, editing, and supporting actor Gene Hackman. Koichi Sato will play the Hackman role and Akira Emoto will step into Morgan Freeman’s part. The film will begin filming this fall for a 2013 release. No word on when/if we will get it here in the US.

I think Ken Watanabe is a badass actor and has a relationship with Clint Eastwood from LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, so hopefully this project has Clint’s blessing. What do you think about a samurai western?