Onimusha film delayed due to Ledger's death

By Robert Purchese Published 28 March, 2008

Won't start shooting in June after all.

The Onimusha film has been delayed and the death of Heath Ledger is to blame, according to a aintitcool's translation of a French source.

Ledger was working with Onimusha producer Samuel Hadida on a Terry Gilliam film, and production stopped when he died.

This caused a shift in the Onimusha timetable, causing problems for the rest of the cast - whose calendars now clashed. There is an added complication in casting the now vacant supporting role; this has to be an American male, but there is an actor's strike in the US scheduled for June. Whoops.

As a result of all this the shooting date for Onimusha is now unconfirmed. The film had been due to begin shooting in June in China.

Director Christophe Gans will use the time to work on a book adaptation called The Swedish Cavalier, but will definitely not be involved in Silent Hill 2 - although we're promised more information on the film "very soon".

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (8) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TriggerHippie #1 4 years ago

    ...

  • DFawkes #2 4 years ago

    That's a shame. The film will at least have a main character that is well cast, what with it being himself and all. Apparently, casting people have difficulty with this - Jean Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie as Cammy, Bob Hoskins as Mario, Chritian Slater as Edward Carnby, as well as the countless ones that don't even bother featuring characters from the games.

    Look out for Bioshock: The Movie soom, starring Jimmy Krankie as Fontaine.

  • robg #3 4 years ago

    Yeah...films are alright, but they're never as good as the original game, are they?

  • Razorus #4 4 years ago

    I read elsewhere that the delay of Onimusha has more to do with many other things. No mention of Heath Ledger at all, and I doubt his death could affect the scheduling of Onimusha in a negative way. Samuel Hadida would now have more time since the Terry Gilliam project was postponed, wouldn't he?

  • evild_edd #5 4 years ago

    Think it's a bit harsh to blame ledger.

    Still, easy picking for the producers I suppose, with him dead 'n all :/

  • Stu #6 4 years ago

    I wouldn't have thought Onimusha would be a particularly worthwhile IP for a film?

  • HermitArcader #7 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • TriggerHippie #8 4 years ago

    In other news, strong winds blamed on Brazilian butterflies.