I'm sure a lot of die-hard fans out there will be surprised that SHARK NIGHT 3D (currently showing in U.S. theaters) director David R. Ellis has coming aboard to direct KITE, a live-action Hollywood remake of the controversial Japanese anime of the same name.
KITE was released in 1998, and directed by Yasuomi Umetsu. The story involves an underage schoolgirl named Sawa who is trained as an assassin under the orders of Akai and Kanie. The anime was especially very controversial, when Kitty Media re-released the original version with an uncensored Director's Cut featuring lots of pornographic sex and nudity.
But in the upcoming live-action version, it's no surprise that the new KITE is going to be relatively toned-down. Instead it will be a movie described as a character-driven action drama centered on a young woman living in a failed state, post-financial collapse, where the corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When her father, a cop, is slain by someone dirty inside the force, she vows to track the murderer down with the help of her father's ex-partner -- never realizing he is, in fact, the man who had her father killed.
Here's what Ellis had to say about the project below.
I am a big fan of Yasuomi Umetsu and honored to bring the amazing world of 'Kite' to the big screen.
The producers behind KITE are currently looking to cast around, while shooting is expecting to roll somewhere in January 2012.
