RZA has confirmed that Paterson director Jim Jarmusch has signed up for a follow-up to his 1999 crime thriller, Ghost Dog The Way of the Samurai.
Details are a little vague as to whether this could be in the form of a movie or TV series but according to RZA the screenplay is written, with himself, Jarmusch and Forest Whitaker have all signed on the dotted line to executive produce.
“Jim Jarmusch, my good buddy, and Forest Whitaker, have both signed on with me and another writer named Dallas Jackson, to executive produce another Ghost Dog. And we already have something written. So maybe Ghost Dog will make its way back to the silver screen, or small screen.”
The original followed Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), a contract killer and a master of his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through this world like a phantom — stealthy and evanescent. In the spirit of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a small-time mobster named Louie (John Tormey) who saved his life many years before.
Ghost Dog was a hitman in the employ of the Mafia, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as outlined in the book of Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s recorded sayings, Hagakure. Critics have noted similarities between the movie and Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 film Le Samouraï.
The film was nominated for a few awards but did not win any of them. Among the nominations were the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics, the César Award for Best Foreign Film of 2000 and the Palme d’Or award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. The film grossed a worldwide total of $9,380,473, of which $3,308,029 was in the United States.
