UK sales agent HanWay Films has taken on John Maclean’s sophomore feature, survival thriller Tornado, starring Benediction’s Jack Lowden and Giri/Haji’s Takehiro Hira.
Japanese star Kōki, who stars in Baltasar Kormákur’s upcoming drama Touch, also joins the cast.
Maclean’s debut Slow West premiered at Sundance in 2015, winning the world cinema jury prize.
The producers are Leonora Darby, James Harris and Mark Lane from leading UK genre outfit Tea Shop Productions. Maclean has also written the script.
It is set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain. A young and determined Japanese woman finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s travelling puppet Samurai show crosses paths with a gang of ruthless criminals, with fatal consequences.
HanWay describes the film as “both an homage and a fresh reinvention of the great traditional Japanese samurai films”.
The film was developed with the support of the BFI and awarded National Lottery funding.
”We are delighted to work with John on his second film,” said James Harris, of Tea Shop Productions. ”John is a unique visionary and it’s rare to find such an exciting take on character and action in British filmmaking. We can’t wait to see our wonderful cast bring the world of Tornado to life.”
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