By Fast Five director Justin Lin is attached to direct an adaptation of Lone Wolf and Cub. David and Janet Peoples will be writing the screenplay. As a team, the Peoples wrote Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys; David’s other credits include Blade Runner and Unforgiven. Maybe, just maybe, we won’t have another Akira remake on our hands.
For those unfamiliar with Lone Wolf and Cub, it was an acclaimed manga series by Kazuo Koike. Set in feudal Japan, the story followed Ogami Itto, a former executioner turned assassin, and his three-year-old son Daigoro. Itto seeks revenge against the Yagyu clan for murdering his wife and disgracing his name. Six films were made in the 1970s, all starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Itto. The first two films were compressed into a single picture called Shogun Assassin in the United States and the UK.
Still no word on casting for this remake/adaptation. There is similarly no information on if the setting of the story will be altered in some fashion. I wouldn’t necessarily be against a wild west version of Lone Wolf and Cub — it worked for Seven Samurai and Yojimbo — though I wonder how Lin would handle a period samurai film.
If you haven’t seen the Lone Wolf and Cub movies before, I urge you to go and watch them. Don’t just pick up Shogun Assassin and call it a day, though I do recommend watching that just to see how the first two films are re-edited. Watch the six films from the 1970s. They are incredible works of inspired violence. You will be a convert of Tomisaburo Wakayama, who’s just as badass as his brother Shintaro “Zatoichi” Katsu and the immortal Toshiro Mifune.
[Via Deadline]