The novel is great, but this is a global-event film, with a cast and setting that reflects a lot of that multicultural fusion. We changed the backgrounds, nationalities, and genders of several characters in the film in a very diverse and inclusive way. It’s something the book’s author, Isaka, was also very excited about. Our adaptation, since the very early discussions with the studio-Sony, a Japanese company-was always meant to be a film that could reach a wide, global audience. I’d love to see a more loyal, Japanese adaptation of Bullet Train that adheres to the novel-but that’s just not what you set out to make with this film adaptation. The film is, by design, inspired by the novel but offers a different interpretation of the story and its characters. There’s a very big difference, in my view, between whitewashing a work and loosely adapting it into something new, taking it in a different direction. I’m glad you bring up that this was a film that was always designed to be an international, multicultural adaptation, especially in the context of what I find to be unfair criticism leveled at the film over claims of whitewashing the original novel. That’s the sort of work I put in with Kelly McCormick, my producer, culminating on-screen with an incredible cast of actors that came on and contributed brilliant ideas. Ultimately, even if the characters are not redeemable, at least they’re still relatable and fully dimensional. That change allows the audience to go on this emotional roller coaster that I like to include in all my films. It was really my goal to take Zak’s draft and add the humanity inside of these characters, so you could root for them in the moments you needed to. In the story you have assassins, who just by their nature are nihilistic characters, and it’s hard to make them relatable because they’re not redeemable. Isaka has been super gracious and supportive of the film and was excited that we set out to make a global version of his book with the international cast. I felt I needed to add my own flavor as a storyteller to that. The dark sensibility of the material was hard for me to get on board with right away, but I loved the original conceit: seven assassins on a train, contained environment, incredible setting. Zak Olkewicz did an incredible adaptation for the screenplay. I think Kotaro Isaka’s book was really fun, original, and compelling, and that’s why we were drawn to it. And it’s based on an international best seller, something that doesn’t always translate to a film of this scope. No superheroes, no dinosaurs, no monsters. This is a type of film we don’t see very often: a multicultural cast in a big-budget action spectacle designed for theaters. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Martínez Ocasio (better known under his recording name, Bad Bunny), and Sandra Bullock.īoxoffice Pro spoke with Leitch about adapting the film’s source material, crafting its fight sequences, and tracing its action-comedy roots. Little does he know that the train is carrying a group of competing assassins, all with connected yet conflicting objectives, unknowingly pitted against each other aboard the world’s fastest train.īased on an international best seller by Japanese author Kotaro Isaka, this global adaptation from director David Leitch ( Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) features a diverse ensemble cast that also includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A. Ladybug’s latest mission seems simple enough: board a bullet train in Tokyo, complete his task, and disembark at a designated station. The film stars Brad Pitt as Ladybug, an assassin who can’t shake his bad luck, determined to take things easy after one too many jobs gone wrong. Bullet Train is the rare studio tentpole that bets on capturing a moviegoing audience without the pre-built awareness of an established franchise. A big-screen spectacle optimized for the theatrical experience, Sony’s Bullet Train arrives in theaters this August with a point to prove at the box office.