Keanu Reeves will soon return to the big screen as a humanoid alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still, but it appears he's heading for a far more radical - and some might say unbelievable - transformation next year as a Japanese samurai in the 47 Ronin. With a script by Chris Morgan, this will be Universal Picture's take on the events known to history as the Revenge of the Forty Seven Ronin.
Apologists for the actor make much of his mixed ethnicity, which is all of one quarter Chinese, but it's a fair stretch of the imagination to see him as Japanese and we can only hope that his performance doesn't raise the terrible spectre of Mickey Rooney's godawful depiction of Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's!
The word from Variety is that Universal's adaptation will be a "stylized version of the story, mixing fantasy elements of the sort seen in The Lord of the Rings pics, with gritty battle scenes akin to those in films such as Gladiator". While it might not be immediately clear what "fantasy elements of the sort seen in The Lord of the Rings pics" would be doing in eighteenth century Japan, it does suggest that somebody at Universal has either got a great sense of humour or a vivid imagination, neither of which is a bad thing. Anyway, as this will be a stylized and fantastical version of what are historical events (can we expect elves, dwarves, trolls and dragons?), it does seem fairly ungenerous to complain about a samurai of dubious Japanese ethnicity!As far as I can tell Universal's movie will be the first adaptation of this Japanese epic in English. There have of course been a number of Japanese versions, the first as early as 1917. The most famous is probably Chushinguraa, a 1962 version with the incomparable Toshiro Mifune in a supporting role (Mifune is best known for his work with legendary film maker Akira Kurosawa, including Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo).
The events of the Revenge of the Forty Seven Ronin took place in Japan at the start of the eighteenth century and have acquired legendary, almost mythical status as the pinacle of bushido, the samurai code of honour. In short the tale recounts how a group of samurai were left masterless - which is what it is to be Ronin - when their lord was forced to commit ritual suicide for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. Disgraced, and under the leadership of Oishi, the Ronin waited patiently for an opportunity to avenge their master and regain his honour by killing Kira. When their mission was accomplished they did what their honour and the law expected of them: they committed ritual suicide.
If this sounds at all vaguely familiar, it may be that you've come across a very tenuous reference to the story in John Frankenheimer's 1998 spy thriller Ronin, starring Robert De Niro and Jean Reno.
Chris Morgan, who wrote the very entertaining Wanted with James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, will tackle the screenplay for Universal. Morgan is incidentally writing a sequel to Wanted. Little is known about this except that Mark Millar, co-creator of the comic book series on which the movie was based, will probably provide a basic idea for the story. Given that almost all of the characters are dead by the end of Wanted, Morgan may need all the help he can get with the sequel as he has little more to work with than the main character!
A director is yet to be hired for the 47 Ronin, but Universal plans to begin shooting in 2009.
What's the bet that Ken Watanabe makes an appearance as Oishi, the Ronin's leader?
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