Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Oshii and his regular backer Production I.G are developing an animated feature film based on the life of samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Entitled Miyamoto Musashi: Soken Ni Haseru Yume (Musashi Miyamoto: The Dream Of Riding With Double Swords), the film will be directed by regular Oshii production collaborator Mizuho Nishikubo. Oshii will write the story and screenplay and oversee production.

Samurai Champloo animation director Kazuto Nakazawa will create character designs. Both Nishikubo and Nakazawa co-directed the animation sequence in Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Nishikubo worked as an animation director on Innocence and The Sky Crawlers which premiered at this year's Venice.

The film's horseback and swordplay action is based on Musashi's own 17th century writings on the techniques he invented, including the double blade style.

There have been countless film and TV adapations of Musashi's life including Hiroshi Inagaki's 1954 Academy Award-winning Miyamoto Musashi, starring Toshiro Mifune.

The film is set for a 2009 early summer release through distributor Pony Canyon.

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