[News] Supporting cast revealed for the Japanese remake of ‘Unforgiven’.

[News] Supporting cast revealed for the Japanese remake of ‘Unforgiven’.
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On September 10th, it was revealed which actors are going to make up the supporting cast for the upcoming Japanese remake of the multi-Academy Award-winning movie ‘Unforgiven‘ (Japanese title: ‘Yurusarezaru Mono‘).

Previously it was already revealed that the story is going to be transported into the world of samurai. Watanabe Ken is going to take over the role of Clint Eastwood, while Sato Koichi is going to play the role of Gene Hackman and Emoto Akira the role of Morgan Freeman. The movie will be directed by Lee Sang-il (‘Akunin’).

Today it was announced that other important characters will be played by Yagira Yuya, Kutsuna Shiori, Koike Eiko, and Kunimura Jun.

The remake will be set in the year 1880 just like the original. However, the story will be set in Hokkaido and unfold after the collapse of the Edo shogunate. Watanabe is playing a samurai with a violent past named ‘Kamata Juubee’, who had chosen to live a peaceful life with his Ainu wife in the middle of nowhere. Now his wife has died and while protecting her gravesite, he decides that he will never hold a sword again. However, he’s not able to escape from his poverty and eventually begins to work as a bounty hunter.

Yagira, who already won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in ‘Nobody Knows‘ (2004), is going to play a young man named ‘Sawada Goro’, who will help ‘Juubee’ with the bounty hunting. It will be his first role in a period drama. He commented, “I was still a little kid when the original was released and it feels a bit scary to now play character in the remake. I’m going to take on this challenge and my role with sincerity.”

Actress Kutsuna is going to play a defaced prostitute with a deep scar in her heart named ‘Natsume’. She expressed, “When I met with the director in February and heard about the story of the movie, I absolutely wanted to play this particular role. I was so happy when it was decided that I got this role! I can’t wait to go to Hokkaido!”

Koike is going to play an older prostitute named ‘Okaji’, who puts a bounty on the heads of the two ‘Horita’ brothers who injured ‘Natsume’. She commented, “I was really surprised and happy when I heard that I would participate in this movie. It was the first time in a while that something made me so excited that I couldn’t sleep at all and I still wasn’t able to calm down. I’m a big fan of Lee Sang-il and it just fills me with joy that I’ll be able to be on the same set with such great seniors as Ken, Koichi, and Emoto.”

Kunimura is going to play a role similar to that of Richard Harris in the original, named ‘Kitaoji Masaharu’. He said, “The script does a wonderful job of transporting the original story into the Japan of the same period and giving it its own novel charm. I can’t wait to see what kind of movie we’ll be able to create together with Director Lee Sang-il in Hokkaido.”

The remaining characters will be played by Kondo Yoshimasa (owner of a tavern), Ozawa Yukiyoshi (one of the ‘Horita’ brothers), Miura Takahiro (the other ‘Horita’ brother), and Takito Kenichi (a follower of ‘Kitaoji’).

‘Yurusarezaru Mono’ is slated for a release sometime in fall 2013.