In his bid to portray every person in the entire universe, Tom Cruise has signed up for yet another space opera. Fresh from filming Oblivion and in the middle of shooting All You Need Is Kill, Tom Cruise has signed up to star in the Japanese science-fiction saga Yukikaze, the series of novels by Chōhel Kamayashi, recently optioned by Warner Bros.
Adapting the series isn’t virgin territory – five animes have already been made of the series, all highly praised in their native country, so the film has a lot to live up to. Western remakes of Asian live-action films are no big deal anymore but adaptations of novels that have already been released as animes is pretty fresh territory, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see on such a big-budget scale.
In the books and films, the eponymous Yukikaze is a fighter jet, piloted by lead character Rei Fukai. While it’s not clear which character Tom Cruise will portray, the story gives him the science fiction elements that he so desires at this period of his career, while also allowing him to flex the action muscles that he developed during the Mission: Impossible series.
As luck would have it the final controversial book in the Yukikase series, called Yukikase: You Kick Ass, Yeah!, features Rei Fukai quitting the Japanese air force and become Ray Fuxx, a rocker with hair to die for and a sleazy rock and roll attitude, playing his final gig with his band Yukikase in Bourbon, a rock and roll bar in LA. It is unconfirmed at this stage whether or not Tom Cruise will be shirtless for the role.
Oblivion has received middling reviews, but this announcement has increased speculation not only on his career, but also as to how All You Need Is Kill will pan out on release. What do you make of this announcement? Has it made your day? Ruined your week? Please don’t tell us, we don’t want to know.
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Published: Apr 16, 2013 11:51 am