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Column by Scott Green
Earlier this month, the talk was that The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift/Fast Five‘s Justin Lin and Better Luck Tomorrow collaborator Ernesto Foronda would be adapting "God of Manga" Osamu Tezuka's Dororo - about a samurai with a prosthetic body's personal war against the yokai monsters that took his limbs and face.
Apparently, because you can never have too many samurai revenge projects on your plate, Lin has also signed on to adapt genre landmark Lone Wolf and Cub. Deadline reports Kamala Films has acquired film rights to the Kazuo Koike-created 1970s Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, attaching David & Janet Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Twelve Monkeys) to write the script. Fast Five‘s Justin Lin had already been attached to direct. Kamala’s Marissa McMahon will produce with 1212 Entertainment’s Elizabeth Grave and Joshua Long, with Roberto Grande executive producing.
“I’ve long admired the Peoples and their enduring body of work,” Lin said. “They’re a wonderful match for Lone Wolf and Cub and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them on this powerful, epic tale.”
Lone Wolf and Cub follows the "Path of Hell" taken by Ogami Ito, once the Shogun's executioner, who brings his infant son Daigoro on the road as he takes work as a killer for hire. As the Lone Wolf assassin he will accept 500 gold ryo, and an explanation of true motivation to take any contract killing: criminals, lords, even Buddhist saints.
The manga starts as an anthology of those exploits as an assassin. They are short, complete stories with elements of continuity as Itto walks into the lives of others, often as an instrumentsof their revenge. As the series progresses, it shifts its status quo. Ito's convoluted quest for vengeance leads into more direct conflict, and, as the Lone Wolf's plot is slowly revealed, ultimately open war with the with the rival Yagyu clan samurai, their offshoots, and the Kurokuwa ninja.
The original manga is available in North America from Dark Horse, both in print and digital. Animeigo sells the Tomisaburo Wakayama movies, both in their original form and in the Shogun Assassin edit. Media Blasters has released the TV series.
Darren Aronofsky previously tried to get a Lone Wolf and Cub adaptation off the ground, but the rights were never cleared.
