Takashi Miike's 'Shield of Straw' Getting English-Language Remake

Chris and Paul Weitz' Depth of Field is developing the project with All Nippon Entertainment Works and Nippon Television.

Takashi Miike’s 2013 cop thriller Shield of Straw is getting an English-language remake via Chris and Paul Weitz’s production company Depth of Field, which is teaming with All Nippon Entertainment Works (ANEW) and its Japanese partner Nippon Television.

Shield of Straw, which played the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, follows a team of five police officers charged with protecting an accused killer marked for death by the billionaire grandfather of his latest victim.

Naoaki Kitajima, of Nippon TV, who produced the original film, will produce with Chris Weitz, Andrew Miano and Dan Balgoyen. The husband-and-wife writing team of Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, whose credits include Olympus Has Fallen and the upcoming London Has Fallen, are adapting the screenplay.

The project mark’s ANEW’s first action film and the third project it has in active development with Depth of Field, following the horror film Ghost Train and the thriller Birthright.

“What struck us most about the original film was how at the core of this action thriller, there was an intense morality tale,” Chris Weitz said. “It’s one that analyzed the gray area between the law and justice, as well as what rights a presumed murderer should truly have. There are no easy answers. We want audiences to leave the theatre discussing what they would have done in a similar situation."

“Takashi Miike’s original film was taut, action-packed and the kind of story that grabs the audience’s attention right from the start, and those assets, combined with the Rothenbergers’ writing talents and Depth of Field’s track record, provide all the elements necessary to make this a blockbuster endeavor for all involved,” said Annmarie Bailey, ANEW’s senior vp production.

Vertical Publishing plans to release a Shield of Straw novel on Jan. 16, 2016.