Asmik Ace unveils Shinya Tsukamoto’s English-language Tetsuo Project, “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man”

Japanese film company Asmik Ace Entertainment has announced details on Shinya Tsukamoto's English-language Tetsuo film due out later this year, the 20th anniversary of the Tetsuo franchise. The new film is called Tetsuo: The Bullet Man. The buzz around this film started way back in 2002 when Tsukamoto revealed to Midnight Eye that he wanted to do an American Tetsuo film. It was later revealed that Quentin Tarantino had offered to produce a new Tetsuo film set in the United States if Tsukamoto would write it. That initial project was called "Tetsuo America", but never got off the ground because Tsukamoto didn't think the concept or character would really work in America.

Tsukamoto recently revisted the original plot he wrote for Tarantino and decided to base a script on it, but with the setting changed to Tokyo like the original film. The new Tetsuo Project is based on this revised script with production by Shinichi Kawahara of Tsukamoto's production company Kaiju Theater and Masayuki Tanishima of Asmik Ace. Tanishima describes the new film as a "solid metal psychic battle action thriller" and "a totally new Tetsuo for the 21st century". Sales agents and buyers will get a chance to judge that for themselves very soon when Asmik begins shopping it around in Cannes. The film has wrapped and will finish post-production sometime this summer.

Originally released in 1989, the original Tetsuo put Tsukamoto on the map with an unexpected Grand Prix win at Rome's Fantafestival. International recognition gave him enough pull to continue making the films he wanted to domestically, and he's pretty much had free rein to take his sweet-ass time with most of his films and handle an inordinate number of production tasks himself. This new Tetsuo film was no different; it took a year to film in a country where shoots are typically measured in weeks, or even days. Tsukamoto is credited as writer, director, director of photography, art director, editor, and even acts in the film alongside bilingual American-born actor Eric Bossick.

Synopsis: The life of an ordinary American businessman living in Tokyo with his Japanese wife and a three-year-old son changes forever after a sudden tragedy. His extreme anger turns his body metallic to fight at a ultra-fast speed against a mysterious evil in the dynamically-changing city of Tokyo.

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Source: Screen Daily via @wildgrounds

Update (5/7): Revised the article with more info/pics. Thanks to Joe Ikeda at Asmik for passing it along!