ROTTEN TOMATOES: "Samurai" Scores Another Remake ... with Ziyi and Clooney?

"Samurai" Scores Another Remake ... with Ziyi and Clooney?

by Scott Weinberg | June 02, 2006

From the "interesting but strange" department comes news that Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" is being remade (yet again), only this time the adaptation will star the lovely Zhang Ziyi, the slick George Clooney, and the high-flying Donnie Yen.

From Dark Horizons: "The Standard reports that Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen is set to lead in the Hollywood remake of Japanese classic "The Seven Samurai", alongside George Clooney and Chinese starlet Zhang Ziyi, a film company said.

Yen met with Harvey Weinstein last week to discuss the remake of the 1954 action film directed by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa. According to a spokesperson for Mandarin Films, which represents the actor, "Donnie has met Harvey Weinstein in Cannes to discuss the project, we don't know more details as it is still at an early stage".

---

"The Seven Samurai" is about a gang of unemployed swordsmen hired to protect a village from 40 ruthless villains.

Films inspired by Kurosawa's classic inlude "The Magnificent Seven," "Battle Beyond the Stars," and ... "A Bug's Life," kinda.

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(1-17 of 17 posts) | Reply

The Senhman writes:
on Jun 02 2006 03:33 AM

Weird, Donnie Yen only recently starred in last year's "Seven Swords," which was another film inspired by "Seven Samurai."

(Reply to this)

pradeep55 writes:
on Jun 02 2006 06:14 AM

Wasn't this the Magnificent Seven

(Reply to this)

alexipharmic writes:
on Jun 02 2006 11:35 AM

In reply to this comment (#837240)
No. The Magnificent Seven was this. That is to say, Seven Samurai inspired the Magnificent Seven.

(Reply to this)

ninjaandy writes:
on Jun 02 2006 12:36 PM

Mark my words.

This movie will suck.

(Reply to this)

lovelykeira writes:
on Jun 02 2006 12:37 PM

Sounds like it could be good and I like all three people involved. About time Yen is given a chance over here.

(Reply to this)

Neclord writes:
on Jun 02 2006 12:53 PM

So, if it's a remake of Seven Samurai and not The Magnificent Seven...what's an American doing in it?

(Reply to this)

The Senhman writes:
on Jun 02 2006 01:23 PM

In reply to this comment (#837243)
Yeah, agreed. Yen is way too talented to not get a chance here. At least give him a shot before his skills start to deteriorate with age.

(Reply to this)

santyclaus writes:
on Jun 02 2006 01:46 PM

In reply to this comment (#837244)
yeah, and what's an american doing producing it? and what are two chinese people doing in it? oh my gosh, it doesn't make any sense...

as far as i'm concerned, right now george clooney can do no wrong

(Reply to this)

kungfu_sage writes:
on Jun 02 2006 02:23 PM

Of the mentioned stars not a single one was Japanese? Man I loved this movie, and the remakes haven't been bad (magnificent 7, bugs life (think about it)). But the only way I see this succeeding is if they re tool it, like magnificent 7 wasn't just a remake, it was a re interpretation. It they make this something else, like the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet, I think it has a chance, but if there just doing a remake of the original, the fact that it has George Cloony makes me think it's gonna suck. Not that I don't like him, cause I do, but it just doesn�t make sense.

(Reply to this)

Shaomaike writes:
on Jun 02 2006 04:31 PM

[b]Remake this![/b]

(Reply to this)

cowsfan writes:
on Jun 02 2006 05:36 PM

DON'T DO IT. 'The Magnificent Seven' was a fun spin on the story but an out and out remake to one of the greatest movies ever? NO NO NO!

(Reply to this)

Now it's dark writes:
on Jun 03 2006 10:03 AM

Battle Beyond the Stars is the best of them all.

(Reply to this)

NoirZombi writes:
on Jun 04 2006 03:51 PM

[b]Sigh[/b]
A part of me died when I read this article.

(Reply to this)

WorldDude writes:
on Jun 04 2006 06:56 PM

[b]Ugh...[/b]
George Clooney in Seven Samurai? No...no...no...no...

(Reply to this)

pornpi writes:
on Jun 11 2006 05:11 AM

[b]Hollywood never learned[/b]
Dear Mr. Clooney,

Have you ever watch the recent Memoir of a Geisha? Japanese and Chinese are different considering the pose, the walk, the accent etc. When will you notice and respect these things? When? When? When? Next life, perhaps?

P

(Reply to this)

Lesmana writes:
on Feb 05 2008 09:58 PM

Why bothered with a remake, just make some freshly inspired seven samurai movies for a change........but well, that's just me

(Reply to this)

riseup124 writes:
on May 15 2008 07:08 AM

Man, Donnie Yen is the ****. I hope they can get some good projects for him over here where he can show his talents, but another film about japanese being played by chinese is starting to get a little weird.I wonder how each respective place feels about this.

(Reply to this)

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