The Weinstein Company's plans to remake The Seven Samurai first surfaced two years ago.A remake of this revered cinema classic is nothing new. There was The Magnificent Seven and countless imitations. There's even a version made for pachinko parlours.
Stars who have at one time or another been attached to the Weinsteins' project are Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi (herself now attached in another way), Donnie Yen and George Clooney.
I'm not sure people took it seriously.
But the project persists. Talk of it resurfaced earlier this year. Harvey Weinstein mentioned it on Saturday during the press tour of the Shanghai set on the backlot of Moonstar Studio in Bangkok. Hollywood Reporter's Joel Gershon has more:
Weinstein ... told The Hollywood Reporter that he might choose Bangkok as the location for a remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic The Seven Samurai, and may even make use of the Shanghai set.
"I own all this," Weinstein said, gesturing to the 140,000-square-foot set, which cost $3.5 million.
The writer is John Fusco. IMDb has the film release planned for next year, with an anonymous plot summary:
A town in Northern Thailand recruits seven Blackwater-type paramilitary contractors from around the world to defend against an imminent attack.
That might not actually be so bad, in the same way that The Magnificent Seven wasn't so bad.
Here's Variety's story.
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