After Christopher Nolan‘s award-winning “Oppenheimer” told the backstory of the U.S. government’s feverish development of the atomic bomb as race against the Nazis and ultimately was unleashed upon two Japanese cities in attempt to avoid a full-scale war on mainland Japan. Another dramatic WWII story told from the Japanese perspective is in the works from “Avatar” director James Cameron, with an adaptation of the Charles Pellegrino novel “Ghosts of Hiroshima.”
This budding war drama is expected to tell the story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And is expected to explore the stories of other survivors as they remain the only people in history to have had atomics unleashed upon them. The horrors they experienced didn’t end after the bombs dropped, and this year marks the 80th anniversary of the events, which is a notable landmark.
Speaking with Deadline, after the hiring of actor Martin Sheen (“Apocalypse Now”) to do the narration on the audiobook has revealed that he’s hoping to make the pic his next non-“Avatar” effort and “uncompromising theatrical film,” but stopped short of sharing a timeline of his schedule.
“It’s a subject that I’ve wanted to do a film about, that I’ve been wrestling with how to do it, over the years,” Cameron told Deadline of his desire to adapt Yamahuchi’s story. “I met Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a survivor of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just days before he died. He was in the hospital. He was handing the baton of his personal story to us, so I have to do it. I can’t turn away from it.”
Also, while visiting Yamaguchi, Cameron and Pellegrino pledged to “pass on his unique and harrowing experience to future generations.”
Cameron will combine “Ghosts” with another Pellegrino novel covering a similar subject matter, “The Last Train From Hiroshima,” as the two books will be used for a single film.
An official synopsis for “Ghosts of Hiroshima”:
On August 6, 1945, twenty-nine-year-old naval engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on the last day of a business trip, looking forward to returning home to his wife and infant son, when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He survived the atomic blast and got on a train to Nagasaki, only to be bombed again.
When it comes to the “Avatar” productions and how “Ghosts” fits in, “Avatar: Fire & Ash” is heading to theaters in December, and Cameron has already started filming “Avatar 4” scenes alongside “Fire & Ash.” While many may assume that the filmmaker may wait until he completes “Avatar 5,” Cameron has suggested in the past about handing off that fifth installment to another director. Although nobody has been named, we don’t know exactly when Cameron plans to direct this highly anticipated WWII drama.
Stay tuned, as we’ll certainly share updates on the film even if it takes a little longer than Cameron hopes to get in front of cameras.
- Christopher Marc
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