The closest we're ever likely to get to Nicolas Winding Refn directing a James Bond movie is The Avenging Silence, so soak it in while we have the chance. He's working alongside Bond franchise writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade for a movie that takes place in Tokyo. While short on details, we knew Refn saw it as William Burroughs meets Ian Fleming, which is a pretty cool combination when filtered through his style. Now we're finding out a lot more details, and the movie sounds pretty amazing. Check out the extended (and very revealing) plot synopsis courtesy of the Crouching Tigers Project Lab where Refn is seeking new funding opportunities for his film...
The spy was one of the leading spies in Europe. An injury inflicted to his vocal cords during a failed mission six years ago left him mute, forcing him to leave his profession. Now, six years later, he is sought out and put on confidential assignment by a former Yakuza, now a retired Japanese businessman in exile in France, to track down and kill the head of the most dangerous Yakuza family in Japan.
Afraid of flying, our spy anonymously boards a cargo ship headed for Tokyo. An onboard explosion sinks the ship and our spy finds himself washed ashore on a life raft in southern Japan. As a mute, our spy must silently journey through Japan seeking 4 clues – symbolizing conquest, war, famine, and death – which will guide him to the unknown location of the Yakuza boss. Meanwhile, the Yakuza boss, known for his 2004 mass slaughter of Yakuza members who had turned against him, is believed to be plotting to reenter the Japanese underworld after living in his own surreptitious world in the mountains, void of all technology. This way of life becomes an obsession for the Yakuza boss. Rumors spread that he had committed suicide years ago but escaped prisoners from his hidden camp told stories of his plan for a comeback. Now rival Yakuza families suspect he is forming a master plan to return, a plan that unburies the most infamous story of Yakuza betrayal.
Our spy finds himself on an existential journey through Japan in search of pieces to the puzzle that will lead him to a confrontation with the ultimate Yakuza boss in a terrifying conclusion.
Certainly this sounds like it will have more story than The Neon Demon did, maybe along the lines of Drive. Hopefully that synopsis is all we're hear about for a while because this definitely sounds like the kind of movie that shouldn't be spoiled. So who do you think he's called to star? Ryan Gosling? Keanu Reeves? Mads Mikkelsen?
