It seems as though Tom Cruise can’t get enough of the sci-fi genre as he’s signed on to star in yet another sci-fi film titled ‘Yukikaze.’
‘Yukikaze’ will mark the fourth genre film he’s starred in since 2005 with ‘War of the Worlds.’ He’s just finished production on ‘All You Need Is Kill’ (which is based on the Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka) and is attached to the time travel flick ‘Our Name is Adam.’ Then, of course, the first of the Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicles, ‘Oblivion,’ is set to be released this Friday.
This isn’t the first time Chohel Kamayashi’s ‘Yukikaze’ novels have been adapted to the big screen. An anime version of ‘Yukikaze’ received the Tokyo Anime Award for Original Visual Animation in 2003 and 2006. At the moment, there’s no word if this will be a possible franchise for Warner Bros. or if they will condense Kamayashi’s novels into one film.
The novels are set 30 years after the start of a war between humanity and an alien race from another dimension. Humanity has managed to push the aliens back to their home planet through the portal they came from and Earth is now set to continue the war on that turf, determined to keep them from returning to our planet. Here’s a book description of the first novel, ‘Yukikazi’ from Amazon:
More than thirty years ago, a hyper-dimensional passageway suddenly appeared over the continent of Antarctica. Fighters from the mysterious alien force known as the JAM poured through the passage, the first wave an attempted terrestrial invasion. Their ferocity was unquestionable, their aim unknown. Humanity, united by a common enemy, managed to repel the invaders, chasing them back through the passageway to the strange planet nicknamed “Fairy.”
The task of finishing the battle was given to the newly formed FAF, a combat force created to go to Fairy and eliminate the JAM bases once and for all. Now, in the midst of a war with no end in sight, Second Lieutenant Rei Fukai carries out his missions in the skies over Fairy. Attached to Tactical Combat and Surveillance Unit 3 of the Special Air Force, his duty is to gather information on the enemy and bring it back to base—no matter the human cost. His only constant companion in this lonely task is his fighter plane, the sentient FFR-31 Super Sylph, call sign: Yukikaze.
The speculation is that Cruise will play the role of Rei Fukai , the pilot of the tactical fighter plane, Yukikaze. This is not an unfamiliar role for the actor considering one of the films that shot him to stardom was the film ‘Top Gun’ in where he played the role of F-14 fighter pilot Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
The film is still in the very early stages of development as there is no writer or director attached to the project, but once more news comes along, we’ll make sure to let you know!
In the meantime, to get an idea of what ‘Yakukazi’ is about, you can check out part of episode one of the anime version of the novel below:
Source: THR
