Production kicks off this month for U.S.-Japan co-production, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, per the trades on Wednesday. Dead Or Alive trilogy, and First Love director Takashi Miike will helm the movie for Neon, from a script by his 13 Assassins scribe Daisuke Tengan.
Godzilla Vs. Kong and Gintama actor Shun Oguri will star in the film along with Pam and Tommy actress Lily James, and WWE star Gionna Jene Daddio, a.k.a. Liv Morgan. The news adds another to the current slate of films for Miike who is also tapped to revamp his 1999 psychological horror, Audition, starring actress and recording artist, Charli xcx.
Oguri’s portrayal, following suit from Abel Ferrara’s controversial 1992 crime thriller starring Harvey Keitel, follows “a corrupt gambler in the Metropolitan Police Force, who finds himself thrown into a tangled case after an enigmatic FBI agent (James) arrives in Tokyo to investigate the disappearance of a politician’s daughter (Morgan). Meanwhile, a deviant killer operating in the yakuza underworld seems to be shadowing their moves.”
Jeremy Thomas will produce for Recorded Picture Company next to Pressman Film’s Sam Pressman, Nippon TV’s Naoaki Kitajima, and OLM’s Misako Saka.
Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant remains one of his more critically appreciated films since its release more than thirty years ago. Regardless, the film’s NC-17 rating resulted in an R-rated cut favorable enough for the home video market. Competitors in Ireland had a different point of view, ultimately banning the film a year later, and extending its ban in 2003 with the rise of DVD releases.
Miike is no stranger to directing eye-popping genre hits with a career that dates back to the V-Cinema era. His credits additionally include the aforementioned Audition, his 2001 live-action manga adaptation of Ichi Ths Killer, his 2002 reincarnation of Kinji Fukasaku’s Graveyard Of Honor, and his psychedelic 2004 vengeful samurai odyssey, Izo. He’s also directed modern and period bangers for audiences, having previously directed Oguri in both 2007’s Crows Zero and its 2009 sequel. He also directed 13 Assassins, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, and Blade of the Immortal, and Toho’s The Mole Song trilogy.
Read more at Deadline.
Lead image: Dick Thomas Johnson/Wikimedia Commons
.jpg){kind=link}