Chad Stahelski, the director behind John Wick: Chapter 4, spoke with the Collider regarding his newest film adaptation for the hit PlayStation game, Ghost of Tsushima.
He plans to produce the film in Japan with Japanese actors, a possibility that was opened up to producers following the rising popularity of captions in film and tv. Parasite director Bong Joon-ho spoke about how viewers “will be introduced to so many more amazing films” due to subtitles.
The original game was released back in 2020 for the PlayStation 4, and has sold over nine million copies since then. As a result of the game’s quick rise to popularity, Stahelski teased the idea of making a movie set in 13th-century Japan as a result. Speaking with Steve Weintraub of Collider, Stahelski stated this:
Honestly, it’s probably the same things that would scare the sh*t out of most people. It’s a fantasy period piece. It’s done with reverence to Akira Kurosawa, who’s probably in the top five biggest influences of my life as far as film goes. It’s a chance to push technology and people in a story that’s timeless. It’s your typical mythological story of good versus evil, finding a man, watching him change the world or the world changes him. It’s all the Joseph Campbell stuff that you’d love in a story…
So, I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning. It’s character driven. It’s got an opportunity for great action, great looks. And honestly, we’d to try to do it, all in character. Meaning, it’s a Japanese thing about the Mongols invading Tsushima island. A complete Japanese cast, in Japanese. Sony is so on board with backing us on that. I’ve been going to Japan since I was 16. I have a love of the country, love of the people, love of the language. To try to direct not only in my language, but someone else’s and culturally shift my mindset to bring apart that in a cool way that still entices a Western audience.
One of the major barriers that come with subtitles however is that less Western audiences are willing to watch films that utilize them over English-language ones. In response to this Stahelski told Weintraub:
There’s a way to direct actors. There’s a way to do it. Where a look can mean a look which can mean a look, which mean there are a lot of ways to do it. So, part of the challenge, not to jump over your question, but look, I think there’s a way to do it. And a way to direct the cast and a way to mellow dramatically enhance facial performance. So, if I turn the sound off, I want you to know what the scene is about, in whatever language.
However, he does expect the job of making a Ghost of Tsushima adaptation to be a challenging one. As he stated:
No one is going to give me $200 million to do a technology-push movie without speaking English. I get it. So, I have to be clever and I have to figure out what’s fiduciarily responsible to the property, to the studio and still get what I want out of it and still make it something epic… And we’re entering two a time where I think that’s, I’m like you, man. I’ll read subtitles all day. And I think America in general, or at least the Western audiences in general are getting more and more used to that because of the influence of Netflix and streamers and stuff, where we get so much more of a world content.
Will they show up in the theaters for that? I’m banking on yes, if everything else is there.
Let us know if you’re excited to see the new film in the comments down below!
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