If you thought Warner Brothers had it tough with fans scrutinizing their live-action Akira remake, or the upcoming Bleach adaptation, you haven't seen anything yet. Don't even get me started on how tightly fans of Oldboy are focused on Spike Lee right now. But Lone Wolf and Cub? The revered manga by Kazuo Koike? Mess with that and you've got serious problems.
A film adaptation of the manga has been in the works for awhile, with Darren Aronofsky attached at one point. The material seemed perfectly suited for Aronofsky,centering on a Shogun's executioner accused of crimes he didn't commit by a rival clan. When his wife is murdered, he is forced to walk the earth in disgrace with only his 3-year old son and dotanuki battle sword. Instead of Aronofsky, Deadline reports that it will be Fast Five director, Justin Lin, behind the camera.
Lin is a fantastic action film maker, but this doesn't seem like the right fit for him. There's a lot more to it than just hacking up sword fights and battle cries. That said, he did a brilliant job with Better Luck Tomorrow at the start of his career, so maybe he can bring a little bit of that to the table now. The script could be amazing, though, coming from the husband and wife duo of David and Janet Peoples. Who are they? David wrote Blade Runner, and they teamed up on Twelve Monkeys. Like I said, this could be great.
Since Koike debuted the manga back in 1970, it has been adapted into a film seven times, and has spawned numerous sequels, a video game, and two television series.
