This is fantastic. Shinya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo 3 is in post-production
I first saw Tetsuo: The Iron Man back in 2000 and, even though I had to watch it twice before I had any idea of what was going on, the film utterly blew me away. Visually, stylistically and in terms of its frenetic pacing, this was a film unlike anything I had seen before. Not only did it make me an instant fan of Shinya Tsukamoto but it was also one of the inspirations for this site.
It didn’t take me long to track down a copy of the sequel – Tetsuo II : Body Hammer. At the time I was slightly disappointed with the film but – with hindsight – I think that this reflects more the excessively high expectations on my part than the limitations of the film.
It was with some excitement, therefore, that I learned (via Quiet Earth) that Tsukamoto’s upcoming Bullet Man is the third part of the Tetsuo series.
The project started life when Quentin Tarantino asked Tsukamoto to write a new English-language version of Tetsuo, about a man mutating into a metallic killing machine, set in the US. However, the project was never produced as Tsukamoto wasn’t sure the concept would translate to America, and he decided to take the story back to Tokyo instead.
Frankly, I am quite happy to hear that the film is staying in Tokyo. Tsukamoto is a unique and visionary director and, even though his films have crossed genre boundaries, hos visual style and consistent reworking of similar themes gives his films a distinct auteurial stamp and one that would only be lessened in translations.
On making the announcement, Tanishima said: “I’m extremely thrilled to bring this new cyber-punk project from Tokyo to the global audience. I call this project a ‘solid metal psychic battle action thriller’. This is a totally new Tetsuo for the 21st century.”
And if that wasn’t enough, Twitch has four fresh stills from the film to drool over.
Tsukamoto’s Kaiju Theater production company plans to introduce the films to sales agents and buyers in Cannes. Here’s hoping for a very quick pick-up and release.