We may be seeing a new batch of
filmmakers being picked up by the studios to helm large genre flicks
based on their strong commercial portfolios, if Disney and Universal’s
habits are any indication. Tron: Legacy
is being directed by Joseph Konsinski, who directed several of your
favorite video game commercials (and whose badass portfolio can be
found here), and now Carl Erik Rinsch is getting a similar shot.
You may remember Carl’s name, as it was tossed about when he was mentioned as the possible director of the Alien prequel. Rinsch may get a chance to make a name for himself with much less baggage though, as he prepares to take on 47 Ronin with Keanu Reeves.
The story, written by Wanted-scribe
Chris Morgan, takes place in Japan in the 1700s and is a group samurai
revenge tale. Reeves would naturally play a member of the samurai clan.
The story is based on an actual event- one of the most famous samurai
stories in Japan. Variety describes it as a picture mixing “the fantastical elements of films like “The Lord of the Rings” with battle scenes of the sort found in “Gladiator” and “300.” Considering
Rinsch’s work (example below) tends to lean heavily on CGI, I would
guess the latter will be the heaviest influence.
I’ve
embedded a pretty clever and well-done piece of Rinsch’s below, and
more of his work can easily be found with a quick YouTube search. This
is all a hair away from sounding retarded, but if they’ve paired
Rinsch’s keen eye with a decent script (and you don’t fucking hate
Keanu), then this could be a good time. At the end of the day, methinks
few would argue against more big-screen Samurai.