Takashi Miike to direct Ace Attorney film?

By Fred Dutton Published 23 May, 2011

Notorious gorehound teases new project.

Notoriously gore-obsessed Japanese movie director Takashi Miike has hinted that his next project is a film adaptation of Capcom's light-hearted Ace Attorney franchise.

While promoting his latest movie, blood-soaked samurai epic 13 Assassins, at the Cannes Film Festival this week, Miike briefly outlined his next project to The Huffington Post.

"It is a very light comedy that I am filming now, a court drama, based on a video game, the Nintendo game DS."

We're open to other suggestions, but that sounds an awful lot like Ace Attorney to us.

If true, this wouldn't be the first time Miike's dabbled in the world of video games. Bizarrely, he voiced Pascal the Otter in the 2006 Japan-only Animal Crossing movie.

Unfamiliar with Miike's other work? Brutal 1999 horror Audition and wince-inducing assassin romp Ichi The Killer from 2001 are good places to start. Be warned though, you'll need a strong stomach.

The Ace Attorney franchise last graced these shores with the excellent Ace Attorney Investigations on DS in 2010. A sequel to that game recently launched in Japan and a crossover with Level-5's Professor Layton franchise is also in the works for 3DS, though European releases are yet to be confirmed for either.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • el_pollo_diablo #1 1 year ago

    Lol I hope this happens. It'd almost certainly be the greatest most astonishingly awesome trainwreck in the history of modern cinema.

  • Centrifugal #2 1 year ago

    There have also been pictures from the set, showing a possible Gumshoe.

    [link url=http://z11.invisionfree.com/court_records/index.php?showtopic=4200&st=0
    ]http://z11.invisionfree.com/court_record...[/link]

    There's a link if anyone wants it. I personally think live action isn't the right format for Phoenix Wright (it'd be much better suited as an anime like the recent amazing Layton movie) but, hey, any Ace Attorney is good Ace Attorney in my books.

  • BBIAJ #3 1 year ago

    He did a bang up job on Yakuza: Like A Dragon, so this could be one to watch!

  • JoeGBallad #4 1 year ago

    If this is true, I can't wait. Just saw 13 assassins and it was superb. Other highlights would have to include audition and happiness of the katakuris. He's a fantastic filmmaker.

  • Capa26 #5 1 year ago

    Excuse me? Audition is the best place to start. Which you'll need a much stronger stomach for...

    This is baffling and brilliant in equal measure.

  • oldtrusty #6 1 year ago

    He's a smashing director. Didn't direct Zatoichi though.

  • coolbritannia #7 1 year ago

    Do you mean Beat Takeshi's 2003 Zatoichi?

  • King_Edward #8 1 year ago

    Visitor Q is a nice family movie of his...

  • number3son #9 1 year ago

    That movie 13 Assassins is freaking awesome, easily the best samurai movie I've seen. Whatever Miike does next, I'll be first in line.

  • Ninja_Tino #10 1 year ago

    Miike can either be a startlingly original and brilliant director, or a complete hack unworthy of the time and effort invested. Here's hoping Ace Attorney is the former.

  • FredD #11 1 year ago

    CoolBrittania, Oldtrusty - you're quite right. Apologies. Takeshi did the Zatoichi movie, Miike a stage version. Fixed. Audition is fab - go for that. If you dare.

  • RedPanda #12 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • TONYgr #13 1 year ago

    @King_Edward
    Visitor q a nice family movie????HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!LOLOLOLOLOLOL!
    A masterpiece but not a family movie!

  • patootik #14 1 year ago

    HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!! 2 of my favorite things ever combined!!! Please be true!

    Saw 13 Assassins last week at the cinema, fantastic movie!

    ps. This combo is so random, what could go wrong?

  • Sonic_D #15 1 year ago

    AWESOME

  • GreyBeard #16 1 year ago

    Miike is a world-class film maker and 13 Assassins is a masterpiece.

    Calling it blood-soaked isn't entirely inaccurate, but it does do a seriously classy film an injustice.

  • Restart #17 1 year ago

    Gozu is a lovely film, that doesn't feature anything remotely weird, or disgusting. Watch it with the kids, they'll thank you for it!

  • andyk #18 1 year ago

    Dead or Alive is a much better place to start given the street fighter comparison.

  • JHuxley #19 1 year ago

    @JoeGBallad

    Yeah, Happiness of the Katakuris is one of those films that needs to be seen even if you're not a big fan of musicals. The Sound of Music was sorely missing some paedo sumo wrestler zombies if you ask me.

    Oh, and this is *probably* good news. Miike churns out so much stuff year on year it's amazing any of his films are even half decent. Hope this is one of the good ones.

  • evild_edd #20 1 year ago

    Audition I a legendary film. My missus had her eyes covered for the last 20-30 mins...

    "tiki tiki tiki tiki ..."

    13 Assassins is coming to my local cinema in 6 weeks or so, when I shall watch it and it shall be mine. I'm always happy to wait for pics to come to my local as:

    1. It's an indi' cinema and I want to support it.
    2. You can buy booze. Black Swan red wine = total win!

  • Retrogamer101 #21 1 year ago

    Best. News. Ever.

  • dunbain #22 1 year ago

    @TONYgr

    Pretty sure that was tongue in cheek ;)

  • mikeck #23 1 year ago

    @TONYgr (and @King-Edward and @dunbain)

    Actually, it IS a family movie. I'm not going to go into this deeply (check out Tom Mes' book on Miike - 'Agitator', it's very enlightening) but the visitor in question does help the family resolve a lot of its issues. He makes the mother experience her long lost femininity, the father regains control of his lost masculinity, and it's a total play (albeit an extremely fucked up way to explore these themes) on the concept of the broken family needing outside intervention in order to regain stability.

    It is also a movie for all the family...okay, this last part may be a lie :)

    I may be something of a Miike fanboy. I make no apologies for that.
    Edited by mikeck at 24/05/11 @ 09:03

  • Lawrens #24 1 year ago

    I'm interested in this, I've only seen Yattaman, I thought it was good and that was an anime to live action film, I'm sure he's capable of doing more than what some people think.

  • Softie2k #25 1 year ago

    Dead or Alive had the best ending to any movie ever!

  • Evolution #26 1 year ago

    Saw Zebraman 2 at the film festival here at the beginning of the year, it was amazing.

  • Toothball #27 1 year ago

    The Ace Attourney series could probably make an entertaining film, but I'd much rather see Edgeworth 2 released in the rest of the world. Also that Layton versus Wright game too.

  • Meho #28 1 year ago

    Miike (one of my favourite directors) also did the Ryu Ga Gotoku film, based on the eponimous game series (called Yakuza in the west). I love the game series but the film was not very good. Here's hoping the Axce Attorney stuff is better, because I also love it and Miike did some good stuff with Yattaman recently.

  • Flabio #29 1 year ago

    He directed 'The Happiness of the Katakuri's', which is a comedy. Sort of. So I think he'll do a decent job with this.

  • jack24 #30 1 year ago

    I did an A level film studies paper on Miike, one of the subject pieces I picked was Visitor Q.

    I made the mistake of not watching before I chose it :/