Perlman to play gang lord in "Bunraku"

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Hellboy" star Ron Perlman will play the bad guy in the hybrid martial arts movie "Bunraku."

The film is set in an original hyper-stylized universe, a la "Sin City," and draws from a mixed bag of genres, including puppets, origami, comic books, video games and German expressionism. It follows a drifter (Josh Hartnett) who teams up with a samurai (Japanese actor Gackt) to take on an Eastern European gang lord, played by Perlman.

Also in the cast are Japan's Shun Sugata, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd and Spanish actor Jordi Molla.

Guy Moshe is directing the Snoot Entertainment production from his own script.

"I've always loved movies in the 'no-name stranger coming to town and ending up in a bigger struggle (genre),"' Snoot's Keith Calder said. "I think this is an opportunity to take this genre and spin it on its head and bring a unique and strong visual style to it."

Gackt is a Japanese Visual-kei Rock icon who recently starred in the NHK Taiga drama series "Furin Kazan" and sci-fi film "Moon Child," which he also penned.

Sugata has appeared in "The Last Samurai," "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," and "Ichi the Killer."

Perlman, who lent his voice to Snoot's 2007 animated film "Terra," will next be seen in Universal's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter