Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment has made a deal with the estate of legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa to adapt the classic film “Rashomon” as a anthology TV series.
According to the studio, the TV series would be a 10-episode thriller, where each of the episodes shows a unique point of view of an incident from another character. Only after watching all 10 episodes, and experiencing the different point of views of all the characters, would viewers be able to piece together the truth of the mystery.
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“We couldn’t be more excited to adapt this extraordinary film as the foundation for a new dramatic mystery thriller series,” said Amblin TV co-presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey in a statement (via THR). “It will explore the boundaries of truth and how different perspectives don’t often reveal the same reality. We also couldn’t be happier to be in business with Mark, Leigh Ann and David who are great producers and partners.”
For those unfamiliar with “Rashomon,” the 1950 Kurosawa film is legendary for utilizing the unique structure of characters recounting their own version of events. The popularity of the film is also responsible for introducing Japanese cinema to the world stage, as “Rashomon” has become not just an iconic Japanese film, but is often regarded as one of the greatest films, period.
“It has been an honor to work with the Kurosawa Estate, and to partner with Amblin Television and Mark Canton, to create a series inspired by ‘Rashomon,’ written by Akira Kurosawa. I can think of no better way to introduce today’s television audience to the legacy of this brilliant and esteemed filmmaker,” producer Leigh Ann Burton said.
The “Rashomon” TV series is still in early development and a network/streaming service has not been selected. However, with Amblin attached (and thus, Spielberg) and the “Rashomon” name, it’s likely that the new series will have quite the bidding war.