Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Yoichi Sai’s “The Legend of Kamui” gets back on track

by Chris MaGee

Yoichi Sai’s upcoming action film “The Legend of Kamui” has been put out of action a number of times, but it looks like production on the manga adaptation is finally back in full swing. Injuries suffered by both Kenichi Matsuyama (deep muscle bruise in his thigh) and Rinko Kikuchi (torn muscles in both thighs) have delayed production, or in the case of Kikuchi’s injuries, nearly derailed production altogether and left producers no choice but to replace the Oscar nominee with actress Koyuki (he Last Samurai). Now Tokyograph has the report that actor Hideaki Ito (Onmyoji) has joined the cast as the film’s villain, apparently a first for him.

Based on the manga created by Sanpei Shirato “The Legend of Kamui” will star Matsuyama as a the titular hero, a lone ninja in feudal Japan hunted not only by evil ninja, but by his own clan whom he abandoned. Scripted by Kankuro Kudo (Ping Pong, Zebraman) the film was originally scheduled to wrap shooting in February, but with the various delays this has been pushed back to September with a release date schedules for sometime next year.

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