Despite being a prolific, fast-working crossover type — à la Park Chan-wook, we can argue — Takashi Miike has yet to be pulled over toward American waters. In that case, consider this his Stoker: Deadline have been informed that deals are coming together for he and Joel Silver to collaborate on The Outsider, which (nevertheless) keeps the helmer in Japan and circling familiar narrative territory. The formula is shaken up, though, with the fact that Tom Hardy has been attached to headline — and Miike, needless to say, has never worked with any star of nearly the same exposure, arguably even talent.
As scripted by Andrew Baldwin (and based on an idea by producer Art Linson), The Outsider centers on “a World War II POW who is broken out of the camp by the Yakuza and is then forced to work for the crime syndicate.” Should that ring a couple of bells, it’s because this project’s been in the news for a couple of years, first gaining attention when purchased by Warner Bros. in August of 2011, landing on the Black List later that year. Then, last March, Daniel Espinosa (Hardy‘s own Child 44, Safe House) and Michael Fassbender had been courted by Warner Bros., the project soon disappearing until November; at that point, Silver Pictures and, by extension of a distribution deal, Universal were coming in to pick up The Outsider for themselves, though it’s now an independent affair. All of this before a director and star were officially signed.
Two years of back-and-forth deals notwithstanding, it’s being keyed to shoot early next year in a better-than-imagined packaging of director and star. If Miike and Hardy can’t help to make this one work, the results are still bound to be fascinating.
What do you make of The Outsider‘s current status?