Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Ron Perlman go to war in ‘Bunraku’

ARC Entertainment, in association with Barry Gordon’s XLrator Media, has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Snoot Entertainment”s “Bunraku.”

Josh Hartnett (“30 Days of Night,” “Pearl Harbor”) toplines a cast that also includes Ron Perlman (“Hellboy”), Demi Moore (“GI Jane”), Woody Harrelson (“No Country For Old Men”), Kevin McKidd (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Jordi Mollà (“Knight and Day”), Gackt Camui and Shun Sugata (“Tokyo Gore Police”).
 
Written and directed by Guy Moshe (“Holly”), “Bunraku” premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Fest.

In a nod to samurai films and spaghetti westerns alike, Harnett plays a mysterious stranger (Josh Hartnett) who wanders into a troubled town the same day as the young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt). Both are men on a mission, who are aided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Harrelson). The duo make an alliance to overthrow the town’s sadistic overlord, Nicola (Perlman), and his lady, Alexandra (Moore), a noirish lady who is as secretive as she is alluring.
 
Snoot Entertainment”s Keith Calder and Jessica Wu produced “Bunraku” with Nava Levin and Ram Bergman. Production designer Alex McDowell (“Watchmen,” “Minority Report”) co-produced.
 
“‘Bunraku’s” visually dazzling world melds Samurai films, spaghetti westerns, gangster movies and graphic novels in a way audiences have never seen before,” said XLrator Media”s Barry Gordon. “Plus the fight scenes kick ass.” Ahem.
 
“‘Bunraku,’ Calder added, “breaks the mold of the traditional action film with eye-popping CGI imagery and elaborately choreographed fight scenes and I am excited to work with the innovative teams at ARC and XLrator to bring it to screens across America.”

Read Drew McWeeny’s review of the film here.
 

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