News Article: Toho to Remake Hidden Fortress

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Date:	11/3/2007
Author:	Anthony Romero
Source:	http://www.varietyasiaonline.com

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Toho has announced that they will be remaking Akira Kurosawa's 1958 production Hidden Fortress for a 2008 release. The prestigious movie, which is most famous for having influenced George Lucas when making the original Star Wars, is one of the many hallmarks in Kurosawa's long career as a film maker. The remake, which will launch almost 50 years after the original was produced, will be helmed by special effects maverick Shinji Higuchi, who directed the recent Lorelei (2005) and Sinking of Japan (2006).

In the movie's lead role, Hiroshi Abe, of Trick (2002) fame, will be handling the character of general Rokurota Makabe, which was originally played by actor Toshiro Mifune. For the princess, who was previously played by Misa Uehara, Masami Nagasawa (Crying Out for Love, In the Center of the World) will be portraying the character. The unfortunate peasant, who has been merged into a single character for the remake instead of the original duo, is to be played by Jun Matsumoto, who is a singer for the group Arashi and appeared in the 2005 movie Tokyo Tower.

The production has begun filming this week, and is expected to wrap by the end of the year. Toho will release the movie theatrically on May 10th, 2008. For more details, visit Variety's coverage of the announcement, or Toho's listing the upcoming production.