Tom Cruise's "The Last Samurai?"

[Hito]

In the magizine Bad Azz MoFo they had the "dances with wolves" award for an indian movie that was really about a white man.

Well it looks like they will have to have a new catagory for a Samurai movie that is really about a white man with this one.


Source: ComingSoon.net (http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?newsid1030518353,32498),

Three Aboard Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 2:05 CDT

Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn and Timothy Spall will star opposite Tom Cruise in Warner Bros. Pictures' 19th century epic The Last Samurai for director Ed Zwick. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production begins later this year in New Zealand before moving to Japan and the United States.

Written by John Logan, "Samurai" is an epic story set in the 1870s during the waning days of the traditional samurai warriors in Japan and the rise of the Meiji emperor at the time of the birth of modern Japan.

Cruise will star as U.S. soldier Capt. Nathan Algren, who is recruited to train the Japanese army to fight against the samurai. He is subsequently captured by the warriors, taught their ways of honorable battle and ends up siding with them. Connolly will play Sgt. Zebulah Gant, Algren's friend who was injured during the war and now has a limp. Goldwyn will play Col. Benjamin Bagly, Algren's commanding officer during the Civil War who recruited him for the job. Spall will play Simon Graham, an English translator for Algren.





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[thaite]

:: groan ::

Yay! The great whitie's come to save Asia (again) !

This is just as good as The Hunted (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0783230362/) where martial arts 'badass' Christopher Lambert kills the crap out of an entire band of ninjas! Whooaaa, look out, ninjas. :ph34r:

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hito@Aug 28 2002, 05:49 PM
In the magizine Bad Azz MoFo they had the "dances with wolves" award for an indian movie that was really about a white man.

Well it looks like they will have to have a new catagory for a Samurai movie that is really about a white man with this one.


Source: ComingSoon.net (http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?newsid1030518353,32498),

Three Aboard Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 2:05 CDT

Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn and Timothy Spall will star opposite Tom Cruise in Warner Bros. Pictures' 19th century epic The Last Samurai for director Ed Zwick. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production begins later this year in New Zealand before moving to Japan and the United States.

Written by John Logan, "Samurai" is an epic story set in the 1870s during the waning days of the traditional samurai warriors in Japan and the rise of the Meiji emperor at the time of the birth of modern Japan.

Cruise will star as U.S. soldier Capt. Nathan Algren, who is recruited to train the Japanese army to fight against the samurai. He is subsequently captured by the warriors, taught their ways of honorable battle and ends up siding with them. Connolly will play Sgt. Zebulah Gant, Algren's friend who was injured during the war and now has a limp. Goldwyn will play Col. Benjamin Bagly, Algren's commanding officer during the Civil War who recruited him for the job. Spall will play Simon Graham, an English translator for Algren.


and this is exactly why i hardly ever watch any american movies anymore. it's all bullshit. asian film studios need to put in more effort in selling their movies in the US. i think alot of the recent Korean melodramas will do really well amongst the late teens and 20-somethings. and i can't wait till Zhang Yimou's Hero comes out.

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 28 2002, 06:37 PM
i think alot of the recent Korean melodramas will do really well amongst the late teens and 20-somethings.
Oh yeah, if anyone knows angst and drama, it's Koreans.

Since I consider myself a fan, I'm disappointed Tom Cruise will be doing it, but I think the jury's still out on how it might be done. Further, as patronizing as Dances With Wolves was, it did give exposure to Indian American actors, particularly Graham Greene, and succeeded, I think, in portraying Indians in a positive light.

[thaite]

And don't forget Wes Studi. That dude was a badass in The Last of the Mohicans.

[boycott]

Here's my stamp of disapproval for exploitating Asian concepts using white actors as leads.

[wylin]

nice choice of time periods tho, the Meiji restoration era has been overlooked by many writers in japan and america, It was a time when live and die by sword was coming to a close and many rebel bands existed across japan. Its when japanese was rapidly transforming into a Industrialized nation...

Also my fav series is set in that time period Rouroni Kenshin ! maybe cruise can go get his ass kicked by a real samurai like Hitokiri Gensai, Saitou Hajime, etc. =X

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by wylin@Aug 30 2002, 01:13 PM
maybe cruise can go get his ass kicked by a real samurai like Hitokiri Gensai, Saitou Hajime, etc. =X
bah! wishful thinking... hollywood wouldn't want to shake america's fundamental belief system by having an asian dude kick tom cruise's ass. well perhaps in the middle of the movie this would happen. but it would be too much for america to believe that tom cruise is not the triumphant hero who emerges at the end.

[kimpossible]

lemme guess... Mr. Cruise will be Sympathetic White Man who gets to boff Sad Asian Female Victim. Sad Asian Female Victim and the rest of Poor Scared Asian Community will be ruled savagely by Cruel Asian Villain. Sympathetic White Man will defeat Cruel Asian Villian by out oriental-ing (very similar to a James Kirk out logicing a computer) him and thereby be warmly embraced by Scared Asian Community.



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[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Aug 30 2002, 08:44 PM
lemme guess... Mr. Cruise will be Sympathetic White Man who gets to boff Sad Asian Female Victim. Sad Asian Female Victim and the rest of Poor Scared Asian Community will be ruled by savagely by Cruel Asian Villain. Sympathetic White Man will defeat Cruel Asian Villian by out oriental-ing (very similar to a James Kirk out logicing a computer) him and thereby be warmly embraced by Scared Asian Community.
yes all hail the white savior!

[boycott]

Yes, we are not worthy. Please take our women, children and whatever else you can exploit mr whiteman. Surprisingly Tom Cruz opted for a latina girl instead of an Asian girl in real life, go figure?!!

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by boycott@Aug 31 2002, 05:25 AM
Yes, we are not worthy. Please take our women, children and whatever else you can exploit mr whiteman. Surprisingly Tom Cruz opted for a latina girl instead of an Asian girl in real life, go figure?!!
if you are referring to penelope cruz - no she's not latina. she spanish as in from spain. that's european.

[boycott]

Well, that's even better if Cruz wants to get back to his roots. Hell, all white guys should take after him and leave the sellout orientals alone.

[mrazntre]

such gracious use of the word "orientals"


i like how david carradine (is that how you spell it?) was the kung fu master man. i saw one original epsidode and he was walking thorugh a cowboy town and this little white boy says "hey chinaman, i'll pay you to kill someone for me."

first off, david does not look chinese to me.
secondly, when did chinamen instantly become for hire mercs??

[Hito]

In the series they wrote it off by having him be mixed.
I think he had a western dady and a chinese mom.

[Hito]

An Update from the set.


Source: New Zealand Herald (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=2947310&msg=emaillink)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pics/r28movieset.JPG
A 19th century Japanese village takes shape in Taranaki's Uruti Valley for the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai. Pic/Fotopress


By LOUISA CLEAVE
The film and television industry is expecting its busiest summer in several years, with work on local and international projects including the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai.

Builders in Taranaki have been constructing a Japanese village for the shoot, which is scheduled to last 12 weeks from mid-January. Mt Taranaki will stand in for Mt Fuji.

Cruise will star as a battle-weary American Civil War cavalry officer who travels to Japan as a mercenary and helps train the emperor's troops.

The production crew for The Last Samurai is likely to be a similar size to that for another big-budget Hollywood film, Vertical Limit, which employed just over 100 overseas crew and an equal number of locals.

The producers considered bringing a cruise ship into Port Taranaki to accommodate crew, actors and extras.

Harbourmaster Ray Barlow confirmed that there had been talk of this - using cruise ships for accommodation is not uncommon in the film industry - but he believed the idea had been rejected.

David Madigan, an executive member of the New Zealand Film and Video Technicians Guild, said the local production industry had experienced one of its worst periods in the past five years, but the picture was about to change.

"This year hasn't been good and last year was not good. After Lord of the Rings happened, there was a massive vacuum of work and this year has probably been even worse.

"My prediction for January, February and March is that it's going to be extremely busy in New Zealand ... the busiest for three years."

Other films expected to be in production over summer include a movie by Hollywood studio DreamWorks called Harv The Barbarian, a comedy about a simple, introspective barbarian who sets out on a grand adventure.

New Zealand director Vincent Ward is to film a lower-budget movie about the mingling of Maori and Pakeha communities in the mid-1800s, starring Sam Neill, Cliff Curtis and Samantha Morton.

Power Rangers, a children's television series, will be filmed in West Auckland for ABC Cable Networks.

A spokeswoman for Film New Zealand confirmed that the industry had a busy summer ahead, but said it would be able to meet all production needs.

She said some smaller overseas films now in negotiation might also be confirmed in time to begin production this summer.

Industry sources said New Zealander Christine Jeffs was expected to film part of her next movie, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as tragic poet Sylvia Plath, in New Zealand around January.

Local television dramas such as Street Legal, Mercy Peak and The Strip were not able to confirm their production schedules for next year, but Mr Madigan said he expected some television production to take place during summer.

Waitakere City Council this week announced plans to open a large studio in the former Apple and Pear Board coolstores in Henderson.

The $3 million to $4 million investment by the council's property arm, Waitakere Properties, will have more than 11,000sq m of floor space and will cater for post-production needs.

"Xena and Hercules spent $400 million on production, and Waitakere City got it all," said Mayor Bob Harvey.

"But there was another $400 million waiting in post-production ... and so Waitakere City has now met the demand for film studios."

He said the studio already had five bookings for its first year.

Cruise takes dream trip - for $43m

Tom Cruise has spoken for the first time about coming to New Zealand to film The Last Samurai.

In Paris, during a short break from pre-production on the movie to be filmed in Taranaki, he said he had long planned to visit this country.

"You know what? I'm always busy. When you've got two kids and work, you're always busy.

"I'd always planned to go, but it just never happens. Something comes up."

Cruise said he was looking forward to working in New Zealand - and the physical demands of the role in the 19th-century epic set mostly in Japan.

"But it's not a historical picture. It's more dealing with the spirit of the samurai, honouring the spirit of the samurai.

"There's a tremendous amount of adventure. I've been working now for seven months on it, doing sword work."

Other cast members include Billy Connolly, Timothy Spall and Tony Goldwyn, but only Spall - Barry in television's Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - is likely to come to New Zealand for filming.

Cruise is already sporting the shoulder-length hair and beard of his character, an American Civil War veteran who travels to Japan to help to fight the last remaining Samurai, only to be injured and captured by the warlords.

It is thought Cruise is being paid US$20 million ($42.6 million) for the role.

Taranaki will not have all the Japanese sets. More have been built at the Warner Bros studio in Burbank, California.

- Helen Barlow

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by mrazntre@Sep 2 2002, 12:38 AM
i like how david carradine (is that how you spell it?) was the kung fu master man. i saw one original epsidode and he was walking thorugh a cowboy town and this little white boy says "hey chinaman, i'll pay you to kill someone for me."

It's been a very long time since I've seen this episode of "Kung Fu," and I might be wrong here, but I distinctly remember the boy saying "Hey, Chinese man."

Although Carradine's character, Caine, was sometimes referred to as a "Chinaman," this was done (to the best of my recollection) exclusively by the villains. If anything, this show drove home to me just how abusive, offensive, and unacceptable the word was. Despite "Kung Fu's" shortcomings — especially its casting of Carradine over Bruce Lee — I think that it sensitized much of America to anti-Asian slurs.