After capping off his Outrage series four years ago with Outrage Coda, we’ve been waiting to see what the great Takeshi Kitano may do next. We finally have an answer, which also brings some inevitable disappointment. At 74 years of age, the Japanese master has reportedly decided his next film will be his last.
Variety clues us in that Japanese magazine Josei Jishin is reporting Kitano will make his final feature with Kubi (aka Neck) and Ken Watanabe is attached to star. Based on his own novel, which was released in 2019, the period film will follow the real-life Honno-ji Incident, in which famed warlord Oda Nobunaga was assassinated at a temple in Kyoto in 1582.
Portraying real-life characters, the ensemble includes Toyotomi Hideyoshi, “the Nobunaga retainer who avenges his dead lord in battle, and Sorori Shinzaemon, a Hideyoshi attendant noted for his wit. In Kitano’s novel, which starts prior to the assassination, Shinzaemon captures Araki Murashige, a Nobunaga general accused of disloyalty. The plot revolves around the fate of Murashige, whose neck Nobunaga aims to sever.”
As we await more details on the project, which is aiming for a May start, check out a well-cut overview of career highlights below courtesy of a Kitano collection released in the U.K. last summer.
As reported late last year, a Kitano biopic is also in the works at Netflix.