Red Sun, Black Sand (Eastwood)

[Brian in Mesa]

Watanabe Eyed for Eastwood's Red Sun
Source: Variety
January 9, 2006

Variety has published an article which talks about the difficulty DreamWorks and Warner Bros. have in scheduling the back-to-back releases of Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Red Sun, Black Sand.

Both films, directed by Eastwood, tell the story of the battle of Iwo Jima – one will be from the American perspective, and the other told from the Japanese perspective.

Eastwood starts shooting "Red Sun" in March and still has to work out the logistics and lock down permission from the Japanese government to shoot on Iwo Jima.

Japanese-American screenwriter Iris Yamashita is writing the film, in consultation with Paul Haggis, who scripted "Flags." And word is that Ken Watanabe will star.

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Sounds very interesting. One film from each perspective.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Letters From Iwo Jima

Release Date: December 20, 2006 (NY, LA; wider release: January 12, 2007; wider release: January 19)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Iris Yamashita
Genre: Action, Drama, War
MPAA Rating: R (for graphic war violence)
Website: Letters From Iwo Jima

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Yuki Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Nobumasa Sakagami, Takashi Yamaguchi, Nae Yuuki

Plot Summary: Sixty-one years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them, Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform what was predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat.

In an effort to explore an event that continues to resonate with both cultures, Clint Eastwood was haunted by the sense that making only one film, "Flags of Our Fathers," would be telling only half the story. With this unprecedented dual film project, shot back-to-back to be released in sequence, Eastwood seeks to reveal the battle of Iwo Jima--and, by implication, the war in the Pacific--as a clash not only of arms but of cultures.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Could the thread title please be changed to Letters From Iwo Jima ??

Thanks.

BIM

 

[Shane]

Just saw this. It was VERY VERY good! Acting was superb! Good story!

Much better movie than Flags of our Fathers even though I liked that one too.