Published at: June 2, 2007, 9:31 a.m. CST by quint
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. SILENT HILL is a flawed movie. Structurally, they have the that 20 minute "explain-it-all" sequence. Christophe Gans did everything he could to make that visually unique and interesting, but it still slammed the on the brakes and stopped the movie in its tracks.
I also found when watching the DVD behind the scenes that almost all of the creatures looked better practical, before he added in a confusing layer of CG work. That's kind of frustrating to me.
However, he got most of the movie right. It's actually a scary movie, the tone and atmosphere was perfectly brought over from the video game. The creature designs and balls to the wall horror scenes were amazing. Gans knows what he's doing.
For further proof, ONIMUSHA. He's doing the movie version of the samurai vs. demons game and the fans are nervous.
DVDrama, a French website with close ties to Gans, got the word directly from him about the fans' biggest worry. Who is playing ONIMUSHA?
It's unique, in a way. Ever since the very first ONIMUSHA game, they have modeled the character after a known actor, who also voiced his character. That actor is Takeshi Kaneshiro (Wong Kar Wai's CHUNGKING EXPRESS). So, you already have a good actor known as this character, but the fans know that in these adaptations they hardly ever bring the right stuff over to the big screen, so there's been worry about this casting.
Gans said to DVDrama that "Of course" Takeshi Kaneshiro will play ONIMUSHA.
I've met Gans before (even watched THREE EXTREMES with him at the AFM) and what was interesting about him to me was that he loves these stories. He doesn't look at video games for the flash, the action, or the "poster moments." He loves those, but what draws him is the story.
If you watch BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, it's the greatest video game adaptation for a game that never existed.
Other news about ONIMUSHA is you won't see it for a while. It's going to start shooting early '08 and Gans guarantees there will be a full year of post production on the movie (budgeted at $70 million). So we're looking after September 2009 before we see it in theaters. John Collee (MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD) and Lesley Krueger are writing the script.
This could be a great movie if adapted well and it sounds like Gans is doing everything he can. Good creative team, decent budget, right casting so far. Let's hope he learned a little on SILENT HILL and makes ONIMUSHA without the last act trip-ups.
Congrats to DVDrama for the scoop!!!
