John Wick director wants to make his Ghost of Tsushima movie in Japanese

polygon.com:

Chad Stahelski, the John Wick director tasked by Sony with turning hit samurai game Ghost of Tsushima into a movie, has said that he wants to make the film in Japanese, with a cast of Japanese actors. And he noted that Sony is “on board” with the move.

Stahelski made the comments in an interview with Collider to promote the release of Netflix vampire flick Day Shift, which he produced.

“So, I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning,” Stahelski said. “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. 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. I have a love of the country, love of the people, love of the language.”

On the face of it, this is a bold move. Although Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite and Netflix’s Squid Game have shown that audiences’ willingness to watch subtitled films and TV is growing in the U.S. and elsewhere, it would still be new — and financially risky — territory for a Hollywood-made action blockbuster to be filmed in anything other than the English language.

Stahelski acknowledged this and appeared to suggest the decision would limit the budget available to the movie, but that this was something he was happy to work around.

“No one is going to give me $200 million to do a technology-push movie without speaking English. I get it,” he said. “So, I have to be clever and I have to figure out what’s fiduciarily responsible to the property, to the studio and still get what I want out of it and still make it something epic. [...] And I think America in general, or