Nichols, Scorsese and Mamet - Oh My!

Ok, I am not familiar with the work of Akira Kursawa (pictured). I know of him and his films, but have still not gotten around to seeing any of them. The plot for 'Tengoku to jigoku' (English title: 'High and Low'), his 1963 film is one of those moralistic stories that I find so utterly compelling. It is about an executive who mortgages all he owns to stage a coup and gain control of the National Shoe Company, with the intent of keeping the company out of the hands of incompetent and greedy executives. At this cruicial point the executive learns that his son has been kidnapped and that the ransom demanded is near the amount he has raised for a critical business deal. He is prepared to pay the ransom - that is, until he learns that the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted not his son, but the child of his chauffeur. He must decide if this child is worth his company.

Sounds brilliant (especially if he decides the child isn't worth the company). Now it looks like I can wait a few years and see exactly how the planned remake will turn out - God forbid I rent the movie just to read it.

Fear not though, it is being directed by Mike Nichols with Scott Rudin and Martin Scorsese in the producers chair. Rudin in particular is not afraid to go down a dark road, just check out his credentials.

Let's just add to the pedigree shall we? The script was written by David Mamet and you have a serious awards/AFI top 100 list contender for the future. Let's just see the cast they collect. I am thinking let's give J.K. Simmons a lead role. Not too old to be a father of a young child, and lord knows he is a fantastic actor and after 'Oz' we all know he can go to a dark place.