Director Chad Stahelski Offers Update on His GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Film Adaptation - "It's in Heavy Development"
John Wick director Chad Stahelski is hard at work developing a feature film adaptation of the hit martial arts video game Ghost of Tsushima.
During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Stahesle introduced Rogan to the game and said: “It’s one of the best-looking games out there. It’s got a great story.” He goes on to explain that story is about Jin Sakai and the Mongol invasion of Japan and that they had to stop them on Tsushima Island. While the Samurai got their asses kicked, they “stalled them long enough for bad weather to sink them in the kamikaze, the typhoon that hit. He went on to say, “It’s basically the birth of the first shinobi about how we are asked to be something less than a Samurai but more than anything else to save his people.”
The story centers on centers around samurai warrior Jin Sakai, the last surviving member of his clan, who must set aside the traditions that have shaped him as a warrior to wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Tsushima.
In another interview with ComicBookMovie, Stahelski also said that the creative team is in "heavy development" on the movie. He said:
"That's something we're in heavy development on. I love the property. The game story of Jin Sakai, and it being what I would say is, 'The most anti-samurai samurai movie out there,' because of the storylines, thematics in it, and the journey that Jin Sakai goes through [...] is so interesting to me. The characters in the story are definitely something I don't want to lose in any way.
When talking about the challenges of developing this film for the big screen, he said:
"The trick is not do we have great material, we know we have great material. It's how to make it palpable in any platform. You know, how do we make a great two, two and a half-hour movie out of this? Make it satisfying and leave it open to expand further from there. That's the real challenge. How to take so much great and get it down to a watchable level."
Stahelski previously talked about the project and the approach he is looking to take with it. He specifically talked about the amazing visuals of the game and how he’s going to try and exceed what the games did in his movie. He explained:
“Ghost of Tsushima is a really interesting story if you really dive into the tale of Jin Sakai and what the film is really about. And you tie him to these amazing visuals. You can already tell from the John Wick films that I love color and I love composition. To really try and not only live up to but exceed what the game has done with its visuals is completely fascinating to me. So that’s something we’re currently researching and working on. Like, how can you push the color palette? How can you bring that world to life in a very realistic and grounded way?”
He also shared his vision for the movie, saying that it will feature "a complete Japanese cast, in Japanese." He also plans to create an authentic Japanese experience and celebrate his "love of the country, love of the people, love of the language." He said”
"Honestly, it's probably the same things that would scare the shit out of most people. It's a fantasy period piece. It's done with reverence to Akira Kurosawa, who's probably in the top five biggest influences of my life as far as film goes.
"It's a chance to push technology and people in a story that's timeless. It's your typical mythological story of good versus evil, finding a man, watching him change the world or the world changes him. It's all the Joseph Campbell stuff that you'd love in a story. You put that in with, obviously, so I'm told I have a bit of a Samurai fetish, which is probably true from Manga and anime and stuff.
"So, I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning. It's character driven. It's got an opportunity for great action, great looks. And honestly, we'd to try to do it, all in character. Meaning, it's a Japanese thing about the Mongols invading Tsushima island.”
He went on to say that Sony Pictures completely backs his vision for the film: "A complete Japanese cast, in Japanese. Sony is so on board with backing us on that. I've been going to Japan since I was 16.” He added:
"I have a love of the country, love of the people, love of the language. To try to direct not only in my language, but someone else's and culturally shift my mindset to bring apart that in a cool way that still entices a Western audience."
This is one of three films that Stahelski is currently developing. He’s also working on a reboot of Highlander with Henry Cavill and a film adaptation of Rainbow Six with Michael B. Jordon. There’s no word one which one of these three projects is going to go into production first, but I’m hoping its Ghost of Tsushima.