Update: Casting news is just pouring in now! Heat Vision is reporting that not only is Will Yun Lee been cast but Brian Tee (“Grim,” “Burn Notice,” The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) has also been cast.
Tee is playing Noburo Mori, a corrupt minister of justice who is about to marry the daughter of a yakuza crime lord (the daughter is Wolverine’s love interest).
Update: Deadline is reporting that Will Yun Lee (Total Recall, “Hawai 5-0,” Elektra) has been cast as Harada in The Wolverine. In the comics, Kenuichio Harada is also known as the Silver Samurai. Does this mean that we will get to see Silver Samurai and his badass armor? I can only hope!
Superherohype is reporting that sources inside the production of The Wolverine have told them that casting is starting to come together on the movie. So far four new cast members have been added to the cast with more to come:
Hiroyuki Sanada (“Lost,” Rush Hour 3, The Last Samurai) is set to play Shingen; veteran actor Hal Yamanouchi (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Push, Sinbad of the Seven Seas) plays Yashida; and new discoveries Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima will star as Mariko and Yukio, respectively.
The Wolverine is set for release on July 26, 2013 and is being directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Knight and Day, Walk the Line) from a script by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Jack Reacher). Hugh Jackman will once again don the claws as Logan aka Weapon X aka Wolverine. The story is reported to be heavily inspired by the Chris Claremont and Frank Miller four-issue mini-series from 1982. Filming is set to take place in Australia and Japan.
I’m really hoping that this movie is decent and can make me forgot the abomination that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I still have nightmares about how crappy that thing was. Here’s to hoping that Fox can follow-up the awesomeness that was X-Men: First Class and with The Wolverine and give Logan the kind of movie we know he deserves.