CriterionCast

Chris Rock To Remake Kurosawa’s High and Low

Man, Chris Rock loves art house films! Moreover, it looks like he specifically loves art house films in the Criterion Collection.

Chris Rock revealed his next project will be a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 detective thriller, “High and Low” (Criterion Collection #024). Rock will be penning the script and Mike Nichols will direct the remake.

Rock will replace David Mamet as screenwriter on the project, which has been in development since 1999. Mamet was originally commissioned for a screenplay by Executive Producer and filmmaker, Martin Scorsese. As of now, it is unclear whether Scorsese and producing partner, Scott Rudin, will stay on the project.

Synopsis for “High and Low” From Criterion:

Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku). Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a penetrating portrait of contemporary Japanese society.

Chris Rock has already remade a film in The Criterion Collection with his 2007 film, “I Think I Love My Wife,” a remake of Eric Rohmer’s 1972 film, “Love In The Afternoon” (Criterion Collection #348), a part of Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales series.

With all of the names attached to this remake, do you think this will live up to expectations?

Source: Black Voices

“High and Low” trailer

“Love In The Afternoon”

“I Think I Love My Wife” trailer

Rudie Obias