Japanese karate black belt and actress Rina Takeda, which shot some good hand-to-hand fighters, like "High Kick Girl" (2009) "Karate Girl" (2011) and "Kunoichi" (2011), for a while she decided to become a more serious actress, starring in dramas, horror films and comedies.
But, it seems, Takeda has found a project that will again be able to exploit her skills, and not just her good looks. It's about a zombie action movie. "Chungking Mansions" (Chungking Mansions) by British producer and director Bijan M. Tonga (“Karma”, “Escort”).
The project “on paper” looks strange. Judge for yourself: the project is financed by European studios, but will be filmed in Hong Kong in the American language. The film's genre is described as a cross between classic zombie films. George A. Romero and French "13th district".
The plot of the film will revolve around different people who find themselves at the center of a zombie epidemic. Among them are a famous model, a professional doctor, a British boy looking for his wife, a special forces soldier helping an American find his family, and others. It is curious that the local zombie apocalypse is a kind of experiment of an evil scientist, whose right hand is a swordswoman.
According Rina Takeda one of the main roles of a safety inspector from Japan is fixed, and the rest of the cast includes: Korean Go Joon-hee (“Close Enemies”), Chinese woman Winona Yoon ("Wrestler"), Desmond Tan ("Big Day") Kevin Leslie ("Karma"), Rebecca Lim (“100 Yards”) and other actors.
The start of filming is scheduled for early spring 2022. Well, we will keep our finger on the pulse.
Let's not stray too far from Japanese actors and “strange” projects. Not everyone knows, but the 24-year-old actor Makenyu Arata is the son of a legendary martial artist, actor and director Sonny Tiba, so Makenu had little choice: he has been practicing martial arts since childhood.
On the screen, the young Japanese could be seen in projects such as "Tokyo Ghoul 2" (2019) "Vagabond Kenshin: Endgame" (2020) and "Brave: Ultramarine Warriors" (2021). But Arata is about to become a star in, for a moment, a Hollywood film!
It's a fantasy action movie. "Knights of the Zodiac" (Knights Of The Zodiac), which is an adaptation of the author's popular comic book Masami Kurumada 1986 The studio has been developing the project since 2018 Toei и Sony Pictures Worldwide, finally starting filming at the end of this summer in Japan, Croatia and Hunggary.
The film was directed by a Pole Tomek Bagiński, who, as a director, worked on CGI videos in the computer games of the series "The Witcher", and also produced the self-titled soap opera from Netflix. That is, "Knights of the Zodiac" is his feature-length debut.
Synopsis: Street orphan Seiyuu one day discovers that he contains a mystical energy called Cosmo. Thus, Seiya becomes one of the hereditary warriors who draw strength from the constellations, who have been called Saints since ancient times. Now the boy is forced to travel the world to find the Greek armor of Pegasus and choose a side in the war of the gods for the fate of the mysterious Sienna, in which the Earth will be the bargaining chip.
Besides Makenyu Arata The film has a very international cast: Madison Iceman (duology “Jumanji”), Famke Jansen (X-Men franchise) Shawn Bin (Shooter Sharpe franchise), Diego Tinoco (TV series “Werewolf”), star of hand-to-hand action films of the 90s Mark Dacascos (“Drive”, “John Wick 3”) and other actors.
It is noteworthy that a former member of the Jackie Chan Stuntmen's Association is responsible for the fight choreography and local action. Andy Cheng ("Wanted", "Phantom Six", "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings").
It remains to add that in Japan the franchise "Ratsari of the Zodiac" is very popular and animated adaptations have been released there from 1986 to the present day.
The project has made some progress "Hanuman" (Hanuman) producer, writer and director Pirri Reginald Teo ("The Dark Prince", "Curse of the Sleeping Beauty").
Theo went to film a hand-to-hand action movie a few months ago in Thailand, where a famous director and director worked closely with him Prachya Pinkayu (“Ong Bak”, “Chocolate”, “Heel in the Eye”), but the shooting of the action movie was quickly curtailed due to the once again increased danger of the pandemic.
It is interesting that the main roles in the film are played by independent action film stars. Andy Le ("Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings") and Di Why Sao, with whom Theo has recently released a hand-to-hand action movie "Revenge at Speed".
It seems Thailand is still unsafe to work in, so Pirri moved the action film to Kentucky. And this is a shame, because Pinkayu and Thai stuntmen would bring interesting angles and great stunts to the future of cinema.
In any case, it’s good that a project based on a crime story (the one of the same name immediately came to mind) hand-to-hand thriller 2015 from Cambodia), did not go into the trash bin or long drawer. It’s a pity that apart from the shot that was filmed back in the spring of 2021 in Thailand, there are no other materials from the filming.
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Tags: Chungking Mansions, Hanuman: Shadow Master, Knights of the Zodiac, Bijan M. Tong, Winona Yoon, Go Joon-hee, Desmond There, Di Why Sao, Kevin Leslie, Makenyu Arata, Mark Dacascos, Madison Iceman, Pirri Reginald Teo, Prachya Pinkayu, Rebecca Lim, Rina Takeda, Tomek Bagiński, Famke Jansen, Shawn Bin, Andy Le, Andy Cheng
Tags: Chungking Mansions, Hanuman: Shadow Master, Knights of the Zodiac, Bijan M. Tong, Winona Yoon, Go Joon-hee, Desmond There, Di Why Sao, Kevin Leslie, Makenyu Arata, Mark Dacascos, Madison Iceman, Pirri Reginald Teo, Prachya Pinkayu, Rebecca Lim, Rina Takeda, Tomek Bagiński, Famke Jansen, Shawn Bin, Andy Le, Andy Cheng
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