Late last year we learned that Samuel L. Jackson would be reteaming with his Snakes On a Plane director David R. Ellis for a live-action adaptation of Kite, the controversial anime from Yasuomi Umetsu. But Ellis unfortunately passed away a few weeks ago, and with production set to begin later this month, a new director was found in South African helmer Ralph Ziman.
Ziman is mostly known for directing music videos but he also took on the 2008 crime flick Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema, which South Africa submitted for the Academy Awards that year. Jackson, who was the first to sign on mostly due to Ellis' involvement, is still on board and will be joined by India Eisley (Underworld: Awakening) and Callan McAuliffe (The Great Gatsby).
I've compared the original Kite to the Millennium Trilogy before in terms of graphic depictions of sex and violence, particularly the brutal attitude it takes towards young women. The story follows Sawa (Eisley), a schoolgirl who is orphaned after the murder of her parents. She's taken in by the detective duo investigating the case, but both are corrupt, with one forcing her to become his sex slave while under his guardianship. She becomes an assassin, killing whomever she is ordered to, while also vowing to find her parents' killer.
Jackson will be playing Karl Aker, one of the cops who takes Sawa under his wing. It's unclear how faithful the film will be to the source anime, but I'm guessing pretty close.
