Wake Up Samurai — Keanu Reeves Carves Out Lead Role in Japanese Stop-Motion 'Wood Sculpture' Film Hidari

Keanu Reeves is acceptable to play the pb relation successful Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai movie whose impervious of conception video blew up connected YouTube 3 years ago.

Hidari began beingness arsenic a proof-of-concept movie released connected YouTube backmost successful 2023. It features eye-catching stop-motion action, with characters made from wood, an arsenal of concealed prosthetic weaponry, and adjacent a towering woody mech. The video has amassed implicit 4.9 cardinal views, with plentifulness of enthusiasm successful the comments for it to beryllium fleshed out.

Creator, writer, and manager Masashi Kawamura had said helium had a overmuch longer communicative to tell, and that helium had been searching for accumulation partners and investors to assistance crook the conception into a afloat magnitude film. Now, it looks similar that imagination whitethorn travel true.

Cannes’ Annecy Animation Showcase: The hyped Japanese stop-motion task 'Hidari' leads this year's slate. A stylized and incredibly-shot revenge communicative acceptable successful Edo-era reconstruction that raised implicit $100,000 with its 2023 Kickstarter. Full lineup details: https://t.co/kKzBUgtG3c pic.twitter.com/SqLa1IExBP

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Reeves, prima of The Matrix, John Wick, and the unusual samurai movie himself, voices protagonist Hidari Jingoro, who is described arsenic “a antheral consumed by revenge yet incapable to wantonness his instinct to create.”

Here’s the authoritative blurb:

Hidari is simply a stop-motion play movie inspired by the legendary sculptor Hidari Jingoro, a mysterious fig whose beingness remains uncertain yet who near down countless works and tales. Brought to beingness done intricately carved woody puppets that reflector his craft, the movie is being co-developed by 3 companies: Whatever, the originative workplace co-founded by manager Masashi Kawamura, unneurotic with 2 internationally acclaimed stop-motion studios, dwarf studios and Tecarat.Set successful Edo-period Japan, Hidari weaves unneurotic existent humanities events and figures with archetypal characters to archer a communicative of revenge.Jingoro, a maestro craftsman of his time, is caught successful a conspiracy during the reconstruction of Edo Castle, losing his mentor, the pistillate helium loves, and adjacent his close arm. Barely surviving, Jingoro is transformed into an cause of vengeance. Replacing his mislaid limb with a weaponized prosthetic, the tools helium erstwhile utilized to carve wood are reborn arsenic instruments of destruction. Accompanied by his partner, the “Sleeping Cat,” helium sets retired connected a travel of revenge — lone to find himself drawn into an adjacent greater conspiracy.Power struggles wrong the shogunate, advancing mechanical soldiers, and a transforming Edo Castle each endanger to devour him. As everything closes in, thing wrong him begins to change. Hidari is simply a communicative of revenge and rebirth — of a antheral who erstwhile lived to create, lone to suffer himself successful destruction, and yet rediscover some himself and the meaning of his life.

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Hidari is Reeves' archetypal relation successful a Japanese archetypal production, though helium is nary alien to dependable work, having played Shadow successful Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Duke Caboom successful Toy Story 4, and Johnny Silverhand successful Cyberpunk 2077. He's besides acquainted with playing samurai, having starred successful 2013 movie 47 Ronin successful the pb role.

“I’m thrilled by the imaginativeness down Hidari,” Reeves said. “From the impervious of conception to the developed script, the squad has created thing genuinely extraordinary. It has each the makings of an exceptional movie — 1 I’m excited to spot and anxious to beryllium portion of. I judge this task has the imaginable to bring thing precise peculiar to audiences worldwide.”

Kawamura sounds arsenic thrilled that he's managed to snag Reeves for the role, saying: "One of the films we referenced portion creating the Hidari aviator movie and processing the screenplay was John Wick. And erstwhile I made my ain idiosyncratic imagination database of actors I hoped could someday beryllium portion of the diagnostic adaptation, the precise archetypal sanction I wrote down was Keanu Reeves. I ne'er imagined that helium would really articulation the project. Even now, it inactive feels surreal to me. But with specified an unthinkable histrion becoming portion of Hidari, our full squad is much motivated than ever to make thing genuinely peculiar unneurotic with him."

Keanu Reeves already has plentifulness connected his plate, including a movie adaptation of BRZRKR, the comic publication bid helium co-created, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which volition spot him reprise his relation arsenic Shadow, and John Wick 5.

Image credit: Hidari / YouTube.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].