It would seem that the unfortunate death of Hedger Ledger and the quickly looming actors strike has forced the big screen adaptation of the Onimusha video game to be postponed.

How is Ledger linked you say? Well the movie’s producer Samuel Hadida has a busy schedule which involved working on both Terry Gilliam’s fantasy flick The Imagnarium of Doctor Parnassus AND Onimusha almost back-to-back but once shooting on Gilliam’s movie was delayed immediately after Ledger’s death… a scheduling conflict occurred.

The new shooting dates meant lead actor Takeshi Kaneshiro was now locked into another movie and a second postponement would mean hitting the actors strike.

The film will probably not film until 2009 at the earliest.

It would seem the movie was all but ready to begin filming too. Casting was complete (Tsuyoshi Ihara, Satomi Ishihara and Emilie De Raven joining the already cast Kaneshiro) and all the stage designs, costumes, storyboards, special effects were all done.

Christophe Gans has now found himself a new project to keep himself busy. Said project is an adaptation of Leo Perutz’s famous 1936 novel The Swedish Cavalier…

When a thief fleeing the gallows and a nobleman, both down on their luck, cro paths one day, the thief kills the nobleman and assumes his identity, foreve struggling to stay one step ahead of exposure.

The novel is set in the 16th century and much like he did with the similarly themed Brotherhood of the Wolf, he will film the movie in his native language of French.

Gans is working on the script now and the movie will shoot this Winter, entirely in Snow apparently, for at the earliest a release late 2009.

Really enjoyed the camp and Hammer Horror like mentality Gans brought to Brotherhood of the Wolf and despite the obvious storytelling flaws and his “switched off” mentality of directing that hampered Silent Hill… it’s clear this guy has talent. Can’t wait to see what a snow covered, French period thriller from Gans looks like!

source - aicn