Takashi Miike is one of the biggest names in Japanese cinema, but if you throw his name out to the general U.S. public they’ll ask you if you accidentally put an extra “i” in his last name. The Outsider is his first English-language movie and with the announcement that Tom Hardy will be starring in it could make the near legendary Japanese director far better known in the U.S. Hardy’s name definitely pulls in people.
Miike won’t be having to travel too much for the movie as it takes place and will be shot in Japan. The movie is a post-WWII epic that chronicles the life of an American G.I. who becomes a Yakuza. I’d say it doesn’t really sound like a Miike fit, but there really isn’t a Miike fit. The guy has directed everything from historical epics to children’s films to videogame adaptations to Ichi the Killer. I’m not sure if his style is going to gel well with U.S. audiences, but since this is going to be closer to an indy film, it may not matter. The real question is do we even want Miike making non-Japanese films? He’s so good at that, why bother switching languages?
[via Deadline]
