Netflix has forged its first ever partnership with Toho, Japan’s leading film studio, to remake 1960 science fiction feature The Human Vapor.
Human Vapor will be written by Yeon Sang-ho, the South Korean filmmaker behind hit zombie thriller Train To Busan, and directed by Shinzo Katayama of Disney+ drama-horror series Gannibal and 2021 feature Missing.
While plot details remain under wraps, the original centres on the victim of a scientific experiment who can transform himself into gas and uses these powers to commit robberies and kill those who stand in his way. It was directed by Ishiro Honda and featured effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the duo that brought the original Godzilla to the screen at Toho in 1954.
The remake will be a series set in contemporary Japan with a cast led by Shun Oguri of Godzilla vs. Kong and Yu Aoi, star of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, which premiered in competition at Venice in 2020 and won her best actress at the Asian Film Awards. It marks the first time the pair have starred on screen together since 2001’s Ao To Shiro De Mizuiro.
Yeon has co-written the screenplay with Ryu Yong-jae having previously collaborated on Netflix series Parasyte: The Grey and 2020 feature Peninsula, a standalone sequel to Train To Busan.
It is produced by Toho Studios in association with Wow Point, the South Korean production company co-founded by Yeon and Yoomin Hailey Yang.
A release date has not been set but Yeon estimated by it will take “more than a year” before the remake reaches screens.
The origins of the remake go back to 2018 when Yeon met with Toho producer Nian Feng about remaking one of the films in Toho’s Transforming Human series of films, which were released in the 1950s and 1960s and included The Human Vapor.
Yeon spent more than 18 months working on a script with Ryu, watching “many Japanese works for inspiration” and regularly speaking with Katayama and Toho’s producers about how even tiny details would be perceived by Japanese audiences.
“While it is a sci-fi and thriller, at its core, it is a story about people,” added Yeon. “We focused on treating human emotions with care and portraying the characters’ humanity through the script.”
Director Katayama said: “Watching it, I was intrigued by its blend of human drama and romantic elements, despite featuring an absurd creature like the ‘human vapor’. I saw the potential to modernise this classic special effects piece with today’s VFX CG and incorporate human drama to make it a very compelling work.”
He added that the production has received special permission to shoot in locations where filming is not usually allowed and promised “visuals that have never been seen before”.
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