Korean Pop Star Rain to Star in Wachowski Duo’s Ninja Assassin

Posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson

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The ambiguity of this news is just so ninja. Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski and their director protege James McTeigue (V For Vendetta) will likely soon begin filming a movie called Ninja Assassin with Korean pop star Rain (né Jung Ji-hoon) in the lead. Rain will be seen in the duo’s hyperactive Speed Racer and he previously starred in Park Chan-wook’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK. And a sure signifier that this film will be traditionally epic in scale: the team’s producing partner Joel Silver is latched on as well.

Like a succinct message of death attached to a door with a ninja star, no plot synopsis or details were given. I’m not familiar with Rain’s music, but he’s recording a new take on the song “Kung Fu Fighting” for Dreamworks’ absolutely dreadful looking Kung Fu Panda.

In your opinion, what is the definitive ninja movie? And if Ninjia Gaiden fought Shinobi, who would win?

Source Link: Variety /First Showing

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  • Nantook
    Not to be offensive, but can they even be called the Wachowski "brothers" anymore?
  • Nantook
    Never mind my previous comment, according to Joel Silver (frequent producer of their flicks), all reports of Larry Wachowski having a sex change operation were completely untrue which contradicts what I remember having read as fact

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295909,00.html
  • Freddie
    All I know is that I've been saying for years... YEARS.. that we need a serious ninja movie that is just all sorts of epic badassery. The ninja scene in The Last Samurai.. when it happened, I almost cried at how awesome it was. Ninjas = win. And what's the most sought after audience demographic? Adolescent males. And what do adolescent males love more than anything? Ninjas.

    It almost makes too much sense.
  • Aaron
    There was a little known Christopher Lambert movie (I know, that's redundant) called "The Hunted," where he has an affair with a young japanese woman who is killed by ninjas in their hotel room. The movie is a great modern samurai vs. ninja film and worth at least one view.
  • Hunter Stephenson
    @ Aaron
    If we're talking obscure ninja/samurai films, John Frankenheimer's The Challenge with Toshiro Mifune and Scott Glenn is worth a look as well. Some nice head rolling in that one, nice mythology.
    @ Freddie
    Yes, the ninja genre has long been inexplicably untapped by Hollywood. The right ninja flick could make a killing. Good point.
  • Living in Japan for 5 years now...I can say that I have real difficulty to see a movie about REAL japanese stuff...with non japanese actors...

    Lets get real...geisha,ninja,etcetera...it is JAPANESE...why would people make movies about lets say something really american like Superman...with a blond guy?

    Does not make sense to me...

    I know the japanese are not so good to act...sorry but it is quite difficult to find a good actor here...but still I am sure one could be modeled to do so...

    ;)

    James
  • fanboy d
    i hope they take themselves seriously and it's more like BOUND than a fun-for-all-the-family speed racer. normally a popstar being involed would negate that hope but there was a k-pop star in a prominent role in curse of the golden flower (which i dug, haters :P)

    i thought kung fu panda looked...funny...man my taste is declining!
  • kiko
    They'll shoot this again in Berlin...
  • Confucius
    They have to get these hacks to take on the ninja roles, as it's widely known that actual ninjas cannot be caught on film, or often times, even seen with the naked eye.

    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ninja_par...
  • Grue
    Sort of off-topic, but I saw 6 minutes of footage (mostly finished, with some raw storyboard/animatic cuts) from Kung Fu Panda at a Dreamworks Animation presentation, and it didn't look half bad. Of course, it's only 6 minutes, so there's no telling how the whole thing will turn out.

    Still, I guarantee it will be better than Bee Movie (as easy a feat as that is).
  • jobel3790
    Fanboy,
    In The Curse of the Golden Flower, it was a c-pop star, taiwanese Zhou Jielun (or Jay Chou for us, westerners). He composed and sang the movie's theme song :
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Gb69rVZ9Y&...
    Another of his videos :
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w3yG_l_5Dc&...
    He debuted 4-5 years ago a career as an actor and also directed his first movie in 2007 (Bu Neng Shuo de Mimi).

    Rain (Bi in korean) or Jung Ji-hoon (his real name) who will play in both Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin is, yes, a k-pop idol, dancer and signer, both also a good actor. He pursues both careers at the same time since his debut. His style is completely different than Zhou, since he's mostly a dancer:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIGnY3Jt-V8
    (watch it in high quality). He's a great live performer:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJIW9qrfVWM&...

    But he's also a very good actor. I think he should be a good ninja:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0butyE31iLw

    Even if I'm not asian at all, I'm a big fan of both of them. They are multitalented artists.

    Hope this help.
  • busybee1982
    i simply can't wait for this movie to come out. Rain takes you right into the character that he plays(what i want from an actor). he is also extraordinary on stage. always new and fresh. can't say enough about this WONDER entertainer. Hurry up and give a release date!!!
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