Behind the scenes pics and cast info for Miike's "13 Assassins" show up online

by Chris MaGee

In May we told you about how Takashi Miike was going to be remaking Eiichi Kudo's 1963 chanbara action film "Juusan-nin no Shikaku (The 13 Assassins)". Excitement among Miike fans has been running very high about this project ever since. Miike? Chanbara? What more could you ask for? Well, for about two months more info on this upcoming film, but today that wish has been granted with cast information and behind the scenes pics.

First off, the casting details - The man leading the thirteen samurai who set out to assassinate a ruthless daimyo lord will be played by none other than Koji Yakusho! Tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Yakusho, best known in North America for his roles in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films, has ever worked with Miike before. This is big! The samurai working under Yakusho's character will be portrayed by Hiroki Matsukata, Yusuke Iseya, Takayuki Yamada, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Arata Furuta, Ikki Sawamura, Sousuke Takaoka, Yuma Ishigaki, Masataka Kubota, Seiji Rokkaku, Kazuki Namioka, and Koen Kondo. Thanks to Tokyograph for this info.

Now for the set pics - Twitch has scored five promo and behind the scenes images from the set in Yamagata Prefecture showing Yakusho and the rest of the cast in full samurai regalia. Hopefully this will brighten every Takashi Miike fan's Monday in a huge way. Enjoy!