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Movie News: Tarsem Singh Directing Live-action SAMURAI JACK? Sold!

Written by Kris Heys Saturday, 12 November 2011

Movie News

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Now before we get too excited, it should be pointed out that no deals have been struck, nor has the license holders Cartoon Network even had a meeting with the IMMORTALS director, but if Singh is deadly serious about this, boy, what a match made in heaven...

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter while pimping IMMORTALS recently, Singh revealed his admiration for the Genndy Tartakovsky's creation: “I love 'Samurai Jack'. I would love to direct that. It’s brilliant. The speed, it embraces where it comes from. I find that comic strip films are halfway grounded. They don’t play my chord."

As any fan of Singh or the Emmy Award winning SAMURAI JACK itself will tell you, both have a leaning towards visual storytelling. The show is light on dialogue and heavy on action; not a criticism, that's just how it rolls. And it's all the more perfect for it. Tarsem Singh's movies, well, they look the business obviously, but critics don't tend to fall in love with his stories, their screenplays often cited as coming across as an after thought, something to hang all the visuals on. JACK being a pure celebration of art styles, genres, and cinematic techniques, it owes itself perfectly to a big-screen adaptation, and if it were to remain faithful to the source it's something Singh could really excel at.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that the guys at CN see sense and hammer something out with Singh. If it doesn't happen, well, that'd be a crying shame, but at least we can take solace in the fact that no JACK movie is better than the one that came close to happening in 2000...

...when Brett Ratner was attached to direct. *shudder*

To those of you asking WTF is SAMURAI JACK, here's the show's opening credits to fill you in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piPzT2iUGpk

Should SAMURAI JACK make the leap (cue speed lines) to the big screen? Should Singh direct? If nay, then who would be better suited? Share your thoughts on these matters or anything else in the Comments below or on Twitter @Starburst_Mag