Chad Stahelski’s forthcoming adaptation of John Wick franchise, also has several ideas for his approach he is already making public.
In an interview with Collider, Stahelski stated that one of his aims for Ghost of Tsushima is for the movie to be made with “A complete Japanese cast, in Japanese.” This would make Ghost of Tsushima a first for a Hollywood-made video game film, and it would be a very fitting first indeed. With its time period and the characters involved, Ghost of Tsushima being in Japanese simply makes sense both for storytelling and as one way to avoid past video game movie downfalls.
Set in the year 1274 during a Mongol invasion of Japan’s Tsushima Island, Ghost of Tsushima is significantly rooted in Japanese and samurai history. Stahelski has also specifically cited Akira Kurosawa as one of his primary influences as a filmmaker and specifically towards Ghost of Tsushima. With the kind of historical epic Stahelski seems intent on Ghost of Tsushima being, Japanese is most certainly the language to make the film in.
Ghost Of Tsushima Would Carry The Most Authenticity In Japanese
Making a period movie with the language of the culture in question is seldom attempted by Hollywood productions. Ghost of Tsushima, as described by Stahelski, is clearly meant to essentially feel like a Japanese movie. With that and its 13th-century setting, making the movie in English would constrain the cultural and historical authenticity Stahelski is striving to give it.
The John Wick franchise uses many distinct martial arts, which is a major element of the success they've achieved with their authenticity made even better by Stahelski's own life-long experience in martial arts and stunt work. With the samurai weaponry, armor, and feudal Japanese architecture Ghost of Tsushima will incorporate, the language being used will simply add to the historicity it is intended to bear. That simply makes Japanese the obvious language choice for the film.
Other video game movies like Bullet Train's Hiroyuki Sanada into its cast) is doing everything possible to take viewers back in time to 13th century Japan as samurai battle the invasion Mongol invasion. For that, no other language but Japanese makes sense.
