After working with Clint Eastwood on Letters from Iwo Jima, international star Ken Watanabe recently stepped into the western icon’s shoes for a WB Japan remake of his Oscar-winning Unforgiven and we’ve got the first look today. Following some initial images, this preview is heavy on the teaser side as we only get brief looks at some of the locations and the main characters but in a world of shoddy updates, it at least looks to be of the respectable variety.
The film, set in the same time period of 1880, follows Watanabe as a samurai with a violent past, who lives on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido with his aboriginal wife, but is brought out of retirement for one last job. Titled Yurusarezaru Mono, Lee Sang-Il directs Akira Emoto in the the Morgan Freeman role, while Koichi Sato will portray Gene Hackman‘s character. Check out the first teaser below thanks to Twitch.
With an international bow set for next September, expect this one on the 2013 festival circuit.