Director David Leitch has landed yet another studio action project according to The Hollywood Reporter. The co-director of John Wick will return to the world of assassins with Bullet Train for Sony Pictures and they’re hoping to begin sometime in the fall.
They’ve also provided a brief idea of what to expect from the project. Its script is being handled by Fear Street screenwriter Zak Olkewicz.
Bullet Train centers on a group of hitmen and assassins with conflicting motives on a train in Tokyo.
Oddly enough, Bullet Train shares it’s title with an existing Japanese film from 1975 directed by Jun’ya Satô with legendary action stars Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter, Kill Bill) and Ken Takakura (Black Rain, The Yakuza) in leading roles. I’m curious if the original film from Japan will have any influence on this new project.
Sony is hopeful because of the contained setting of the project (on a train) they’ll be able to limit the number of people on set during the filming.
David’s previous releases all have strong action sequences which has helped him gain the reputation of a solid action film director, thanks to his background in stunts.
At one point, Antoine Fuqua was attached to direct.
The director has been putting together multiple deals to make multiple films at various studios, but I’m unsure if he’ll be able to make all of them. Here is a rundown of the other various projects that David has been reportedly attached to direct over the last year or so.
- A feature adaptation of the Ubisoft video game The Division for Netflix with Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star.
- A remake of the classic Bruce Lee martial arts action film Enter The Dragon for Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Undying Love, a vampire action film set in Hong Kong and based on the Image Comics property.
- A feature film remake of the classic David Carradine series Kung Fu.
Leitch is also producing a string of upcoming releases such as the Universal action flick Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) coming to theaters on February 26th, 2021, the Toyko-set Netflix assassin film Kate starring Elizabeth Winstead (Birds of Prey), and the recently announced memory loss thriller for STX titled Fast & Loose.
While sequels to Hobbs & Shaw, Atomic Blonde, and Deadpool 2 are said to be in early development stages. It remains to be seen if David will return to direct those projects.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
THE RONIN 