I did a lot of whining here when the news broke that The Weinstein Company was planning a remake of Akira Kurosawa'sSeven Samurai, so it's only right that the latest Kurosawa remake receive the same treatment: Powerful (and wildly misguided) Japanese producer Haruki Kadokawahas announced plans to make a new version of Sanjuro. Granted, the fact that this one is being made by a Japanese studio with Japanese actors -- it will be directed by Yoshimitsu Morita and star Yuji Oda as Toshirô Mifune's unnamed ronin -- automatically makes its better than an American Seven Samurai starring George Clooney, but still. For the love of God, why?One one hand, I suppose you've got to admire Kadokawa for striking while the iron is hot: His Yamoto was a massive hit last year, and he knows he's pretty much able to do anything he wants right now (he's also behind that Genghis Kahn biopic). On the other hand, however, I just cannot comprehend the balls of directors and actors willing to step into the shoes of masters like Kurosawa and Mifune -- the amount of money on offer must be impressive indeed, since it has the power to make normally sensible people lose their minds entirely.
The film will hit Japanese theaters next year.
