Michael Mann is a legendary filmmaker, but his presence has dwindled of late. His most recent film was 2015’s underrated Blackhat, and before that 2009’s Public Enemies, with a brief stop in the world of TV directing an episode of short-lived HBO series Luck. And now he’s coming back to HBO for the launch of another show, a long-developing adaptation of Tokyo Vice.
Mann will direct the pilot episode of Tokyo Vice for streaming service HBO Max, which already has Baby Driver and The Goldfinch star Ansel Elgort in the lead role. Joining him will be Japanese superstar Ken Watanabe, seen twice this year in Detective Pikachu and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The series is written by JT Rogers and has Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, Just Mercy) on board as a producer, having stepped back from a prior director role. The hope is that Mann will stick around for a longer stretch.
Tokyo Vice is based on Jake Adelstein’s memoir about his time as a beat reporter in Tokyo following the local police for one of Japan’s largest newspapers. Rogers adapted the book for a movie in 2013 that would’ve starred Daniel Radcliffe, but that obviously fell through. [Deadline]
