One month from today fans of the wild side of Nicolas Cage will be able to feast their eyes upon a ghost, samurai, ninja, crotch-bomb action thriller Prisoners of the Ghostland. This film has something for everyone! Here are 12 new images to whet your appetite, in case the trailer didn't already have you completely sold.
From the director Sion Sono (The Forest of Love, Tokyo Vampire Hotel), Prisoners of the Ghostland tells the story of Hero (Nicolas Cage), a notorious bank robber from the frontier city of Samurai Town, who is released from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor (Bill Moseley), only to find that his adopted granddaughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) has gone missing. Hero is strapped into a self-destructing leather suit that will allow him five days to save the girl, remain a free man and of course, stay alive. Here's the trailer, in case you missed it.
Japanese director Sion Sono says his first English language film is a "very classic" story. "It's a movie about a hero. It's really simple. However, the details are quite fantastic and quite different. The character lost her mother when she was a child and she was adopted by the Governor," says Sono. "The Governor got the Hero out of the prison, and he's supposed to go and save the governor's granddaughter. If his mission is completed, he's supposed to be free, and he can walk away." He throws in a few crucial details of who Hero will be battling, saying, "There are samurais, there are ninjas, and ghosts are part of the story as well."
We also get to see a Face/Off reunion with Nick Cassavetes joining the cast. He played an associate of Cage's Castor Troy in John Woo's 1997 body-swap action movie. "Nick Cassavetes' character used to be a partner with the hero for things like bank robberies," says Sono. "They are notorious characters in the past. During one of the bank robberies, Nick Cassavetes' character got caught and the hero run away. So, the character has a feeling against the hero."
Prisoners of the Ghostland was originally going to be shot in Mexico, but after Sono's heart attack, plans had to be changed. "I was living in Tokyo and Nicolas Cage himself suggested, 'Why don't we shoot in Japan instead?' That gave a lot of essence to the east-meets-west stuff. That became quite different and super-interesting." He praises Cage for his easygoing attitude, "He is literally the easiest person to work with in the world, in my opinion," says the Sono. "He never acts like a star star at all. He tried everything he can to make this movie great for Sion. He did everything for Sion. I actually feel fantastic. Great. Just so you know, I text with Nicolas on a daily basis and we share this happiness that the movie is showing at Sundance."
If Sono and Cage's enthusiasm, pics and Prisoners of the Ghostland trailer do not have you convinced to get thee to the theater, try out this Hero line, "If you'd told me three days ago I'd be standing here with one arm and one tesssticallll trying to reason with you bitches, I would have said 'Impossible' too!" Prisoners of the Ghostland will be released in theaters and on VOD September 17.
