A while back we reported that Ken Watanabe would be starring in a remake of Clint Eastwood‘s UNFORGIVEN. The plot was going to be transplanted to feudal Japan. Now, we have our first look at the teaser for the film.
The remake, titled YURUSAREZARU MONO, moves the story to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, [at] a time when Japanese settlers were displacing the native Ainu people. Watanabe is playing the Eastwood role. While we cannot tell much from this video, unless you speak Japanese, we can see that visually it has a dark and serious tone much like the original.
UNFORGIVEN is a movie that I respect but I am definitely okay with this remake. Westerns and samurai movies have a shared history and similar plot devices. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN would not exist without SEVEN SAMURAI. Seeing as Warner Bros. is producing this remake, I would think that Eastwood has signed off on the project.
No word on whether or not we will see a North American theatrical release for the movie, but I am crossing my fingers that we will get an official release here to witness whether or not director Lee Sang-il’s film lives up to the original.