The classic Japanese horror movie Kevin Bacon wanted to remake
In terms of American acting icons of the late 20th century, they don’t get much bigger than Kevin Bacon. The Philadelphia-born star is an absolute monolith in Hollywood, having starred in some of the most memorable motion pictures of all time, leading to a number of awards and a reputation for genuine brilliance.
After coming through in 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House, Bacon set out for the dizzy heights of fame, achieved via his breakthrough role in the musical-drama classic Footloose. Following up with acclaimed roles in the likes of JFK, A Few Good Men and Apollo 13, Bacon’s credibility grew and grew until it was practically at bursting point.
Like many of the most successful actors, Bacon was naturally afforded the opportunity to take the directorial reins, beginning with the 1996 television drama movie Losing Chase. Less than a decade later, Bacon delivered his second directorial effort in the shape of the drama Loverboy, starring his wife Kyra Sedgwick and their two children.
In an interview with the BBC, Bacon once spoke of his impression of taking the leap from acting to directing, noting, “I really enjoy it, and I think it’s a natural kind of progression for an actor. You spend so much time on the set putting yourself in someone else’s hands that there is an element of being a puppet no matter how big a star you are.”
Bacon went on to explain that if he were to ever direct again, then it would have to be a story that he felt a particularly close connection with seeing as directing a movie tends to take much more time and commitment than just acting in it. Bacon has only directed two movies, but if there were ever to be a third, then it might just be a remake of Takashi Miike’s 1999 horror film Audition.
In the BBC interview, Bacon explained, “My passion right now is a movie based on a Japanese novel called Audition that was made into a brilliant Japanese film.” Audition is based on Ryu Murakami’s 1997 novel of the same name and tells of a widower (played by Ryo Ishibashi) who puts on a false audition to find a new lover.
Following the audition process, he becomes interested in a shy-seeming woman (played by Eihi Shiina) whose dark and tortured past leads to shocking consequences. Audition is a brilliant film, partly responsible, along with Hideo Nakata’s Ringu and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure, for kicking off the J-horror fascination.
Of course, there have been a number of remakes of East Asian movies that have arrived as pale imitations, including Spike Lee’s 2013 version of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy and Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake of Ringu. Although Bacon said he would love the chance to take on Audition, he’s somewhat wary of taking it in the wrong direction.
“Not to jump on the bandwagon of making American films out of Japanese films,” the actor noted, “but this is something that is a perfect kind of part for me to do at this point in my life. So I’m working on trying to get a screenplay out of that.” Of course, Bacon hasn’t quite managed to bring an American version of Miike’s film to fruition, and that might just have been for the best, seeing as the original Japanese adaptation is a masterpiece in its own right.
