First, as an aside… Maybe it’s just me, but I suddenly realized that this is the 3rd pairing of an older black actor with a younger white actress in upcoming features we’ve recently profiled. There’s the Denzel Washington Equalizer reboot, which just tapped Chloe Moretz as the female lead; and there’s also the Will Smith Warner Bros. project titled Focus, which initially had Kristen Stewart attached to co-star in a film about an inexperienced female con artist (Stewart) who teams up with a more seasoned male con artist (Smith). But Stewart is no longer attached at the moment. However, I’m sure another young white actress will replace her eventually.

It’s an interesting trend that might be worth further looking into. 

Announced in an earlier post, The Weinstein Company has acquired worldwide rights to the live-action remake of Yasuomi Umetsu’s Japanese anime film Kite.

Samuel L. Jackson stars alongside India Eisley in the film adaptation with South African director Ralph Ziman, helming.

Kite, in short, centers on a young girl named Sawa (Eisley) orphaned in her early teens, after her parents are brutally murdered, who becomes a hitman (or is it hitwoman?), and, with the help of her father’s ex-partner Karl Aker (played by Samuel L. Jackson), works to track down and kill the person responsible for the death of her parents.

The DVD description of the original Kite states: “College student by day, vigilante by night, Sawa protects the innocent and mercilessly kills criminals in this intense Japanese anime.“

It was banned in some countries due to its depictions of extreme violence, strong sexuality and nudity, including graphic rape scenes involving a very young Sawa.

However, this English-language remake will reportedly be a character-driven action film, that charts the story of Sawa, in the photo above-right), who lives in a failed state, where a corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When Sawa’s policeman father is killed, she vows to find and take out the murderer, with the help of her father’s ex-partner, Karl Aker (played by Samuel L. Jackson).

There’s a surprising twist central to Jackson’s character that turns the story on its head, but I won’t reveal it here; although you could probably find it online if you searched.

Principal photography has just wrapped in Johannesburg, so we should see it in 2014.