After paying her blockbuster dues toiling for, of all people, Paul WS Anderson on Death Race, Joan Allen is headed back to quality drama.
She’s joined the already-cast Richard Gere in the remake of Hachicko, A Dog’s Story, the Japanese film that chronicles the tale of a legendarily loyal Akita.
Lasse Hallstrom is directing Stephen P Lindsay’s script, which adapts the true story of a faithful hound that waited for his master to return. Trouble was, said master had died and never came back, so the pooch ended up spending the better part of a decade on his vigil. There’s a happier ending though; he’s adopted by a college professor (Gere), and for his efforts, (the dog, not the prof) is celebrated by the Japanese every year, with a statue erected in his honour.
It all starts shooting this January in Rhode Island, and we’re going to resist the cheap joke about Hallstrom having the perfect name to direct this. Lasse = Lassie? Get it?
