Miike to Remake Kobayashi's HARAKIRI (SEPPUKU) In 3D

Read the headline any way you want, although I can't imagine most of you are thrilled, at least initially. Variety is reporting Takeshi Miike will begin production on a 'untitled' remake of Masaki Kobayashi's classic Harakiri (Seppuku) in October with a 2011 release. And this just after his remake of the 1963 samurai film 13 Assassins played Venice and Toronto.

Tatsuya Nakadai starred in the original 1962 film as a disillusioned samurai who exacts revenge on the clan leaders who forced his son-in-law to commit ritual suicide (aka seppuku, the cutting or disemboweling of the stomach). Miike's version will star the current holder to the Kabuki stage name Ebizo Ichikawa, aka Shinosuke Ichikawa VII.

Now if one takes a step further than an initial "WTF?", the prospects for this could be, very, very interesting. I suspect that the costs and use of 3D could push the film more into action territory than the original did, but with someone as wildly prolific as Miike at the helm, one never knows, and that is half the fun ain't it?