Audition director Takashi Miike is to make a new thriller about police corruption – Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, starring Shun Oguri and Lily James.
Over 30 years after New York filmmaker Abel Ferrara finished making Bad Lieutenant, Japanese director Takashi Miike is about to make another entry in one of cinema’s more unusual film series.
Neon, the indie company behind such hits as Parasite, Longlegs, Anora and this year’s The Monkey is behind the latest production, called Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo. It’s another tale of police corruption and criminality, with Shun Oguri set to take the central role as a gambling-addicted cop on the trailer of a missing woman in the seedier parts of Japan’s capital.
Lily James and WWE wrestler turned actor Liv Morgan are to co-star, while the script will be written by Daisuke Tengan, who previously wrote the adapted screenplay for Audition – perhaps Miike’s best-known film in the west.
Released in 1992, the original Bad Lieutenant starred Harvey Keitel as the unnamed New York law enforcer, investigating the violent sexual assault of a nun while battling his own addiction to drink and drugs. It was an uncompromising character piece, with a boldly unfettered performance from Keitel – so much so that it was somewhat surprising when news circulated that a belated sequel, of sorts, was being worked on in the late 2000s.
The resulting film, Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, was directed by Werner Herzog, and was almost entirely unrelated to Ferrara’s film beyond its title, focus on a corrupt cop, and its producer, Edward R Pressman. This time, it was Nicolas Cage in the lead, playing another cop struggling with his demons, and it was a much more twisted, blackly comic affair. Ferrara was decidedly unhappy about the film’s existence; Herzog replied that he’d never seen any of Ferrara’s work. The pair later settled their differences.
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With Miike directing another movie with the Bad Lieutenant’s name, it looks as though a pattern’s beginning to form: every decade or so, a maverick filmmaker comes along and makes a neo-noir thriller in a different part of the world.
In a statement published by Deadline, Miike revealed that his thriller is in production this month.
“A team of incredibly talented actors and crew has gathered in Tokyo. Now,” the director said. “I’m about to throw a fastball straight down the middle of your strike zone – no tricks, no gimmicks. I’m confident we are about to break through every limit, to create unforgettable entertainment. Get ready for the ride with us.”
Now in his 60s, Miike is one of the most prolific filmmakers currently working (yes, even more so than Guy Ritchie). He’s made somewhere north of 100 films since 1991, all of them straddling styles and genres. It’s his more violent work that tends to be recognised outside Japan. The above-mentioned Audition was a slow-burn thriller with a shocker of a final act. His 2001 horror Ichi The Killer soon became infamous (it was cut by several minutes in some territories).
Given his track record, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo will provide a bracing evening at the cinema.
