“A Colt is My Passport” Theatrical Poster
Writer/director Gareth Evans (Havoc, Apostle, Merantau) – the mastermind behind The Raid franchise – has completed filming his remake of Takashi Nomura’s 1967 Yakuza thriller A Colt Is My Passport for Amazon MGM’s Orion Pictures.
The remake stars Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Gangs of London), Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction), Jack Reynor (Midsommar), Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), Victor Alli, (Bridgerton) Ewan Mitchell (The Last Kingdom), Burn Gorman (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) and Noah Taylor (Edge of Tomorrow).
Evans’ remake will be set in 1978 Detroit and tell the story of Colt, a Vietnam veteran turned contract killer, who goes on the run after assassinating a gangland boss (via Deadline).
Evans only got around to watching A Colt Is My Passport during the pandemic when he discovered it streaming on the Criterion Channel—“and quickly fell in love.” He later introduced the film at the 2023 L’Etrange Festival, where he also shared a heartfelt write-up in its honor (via World of Reel).
In the original, Joe Shishido (Cruel Gun Story) plays a hitman tasked with killing a rival yakuza boss. After completing the assassination, he and his partner (Jerry Fujio) attempt to escape the country, but the bad guys have all the airports covered. Joe and Jerry are told to hideout in a truck stop outside of town while things cool down. However, while waiting there, his boss makes nice with the son of the recently murdered rival, and an alliance is formed. In order to ensure friendly relations, Shishido must be killed, and his boss is all too willing to give him up.
The film is currently post-production phase, but we’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Until then, enjoy the original’s classic Trailer:
I know the action will come through as always. Let’s see how this script goes.
That’s a an odd choice. The movie’s already pretty cool, so there’s not much there to improve on. I’m guessing Evans is use the original as a foundation and go all out with the action. Only way this makes sense.
I figured as much. Colt, like most Japanese films is slow moving. I’m sure Evan’s flavor would be interesting.