I’m reasonably convinced that Chad Stahelski isn’t human. The John Wick director is juggling more projects than an unappreciated intern, and I want to know when he finds time to sleep. We’ll list several of his upcoming endeavors shortly. Still, for now, I want to tell you about Shibumi, an assassin movie Stahelski will direct for Warner Bros. Shibumi recently found a writer in Operation Finale scribe Matthew Orton, and now it’s off to the races.
According to Deadline, Shibumi focuses on the struggle of the “Mother Company,” a collective of energy companies that secretly controls much of the Western world, and a skilled assassin named Nicholaï Hel.
Shibumi is adapted from Trevanian’s (the pseudonym of Rodney William Whitaker) 1979 novel, which you can read the official synopsis for below:
Nicholai Hel is the world’s most wanted man. Born in Shanghai during the chaos of World War I, he is the son of an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father and is the protégé of a Japanese Go master. Hel survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world’s most artful lover and its most accomplished—and well-paid—assassin. Hel is a genius, a mystic, and a master of language and culture. His secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection known only as shibumi.
Now living in an isolated mountain fortress with his exquisite mistress, Hel is unwillingly drawn back into the life he’d tried to leave behind when a beautiful young stranger arrives at his door, seeking help and refuge. It soon becomes clear that Hel is being tracked by his most sinister enemy—a supermonolith of international espionage known only as the Mother Company. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side and on the other . . . shibumi.
In addition to directing the film, Stahelski produces through his 87Eleven studio alongside Alex Young and Jason Spitz. As I mentioned, Stahelski is getting behind the camera for several projects, including John Wick: Chapter 4, Highlander (starring Henry Cavill), an adaptation of Sony’s hit video game Ghost of Tsushima, the Gangsters of Shanghai TV series, Sandman Slim, an adaptation of the comic series Kill or Be Killed, and an action thriller called Classified. As I said, the man isn’t human! Check his sleeping quarters for a coffin, dammit!
Are you excited to learn more about Shibumi? Do you think Stahelskii takes on too many gigs, or is this all a part of his elaborate plan for Hollywood domination? Let us know in the comments.