Tim Burton Teams With Kazuo Ishiguro on Original Film Set in Post-War Japan

Back in May, it was reported that Tim Burton flew to Cannes for meetings with buyers about a mysterious new film project, one described as "top secret." Did anybody have Kazuo Ishiguro and post-war Japan on their bingo card?

According to Deadline, Burton is set to direct a still-untitled feature from Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, who is writing the script. Details are under wraps, as they always are with Burton, but multiple sources say the story is set in post-WWII Japan.

Now, this is an original screenplay, not an adaptation of an existing or forthcoming Ishiguro novel. No distributor is attached yet; the plan is reportedly to package it with cast and then take it to buyers. Sources say it's the project Burton has focused on most since "Wednesday" wrapped, and it could be his next film if things move forward quickly.

That's worth noting, because Burton said last summer that he was working on an animated feature and waiting on a script, and "Beetlejuice 3" is officially in the works at Warner Bros. Not to mention he's developing "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman," with Margot Robbie attached to star.

Ishiguro is no stranger to post-war Japan. It was the backdrop of his early novels "A Pale View of Hills" and "An Artist of the Floating World," and he earned an Oscar nomination for adapting Kurosawa's "Ikiru" into "Living," starring Bill Nighy. There's also a "Wednesday" connection: Jenna Ortega stars in Taika Waititi's adaptation of Ishiguro's "Klara and the Sun," which opens next week.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I want Burton to go back to directing a non-IP film. The director who once dreamed up "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood," working from an original Ishiguro script set somewhere he's never gone before?

Sign me up. This is the most interesting thing Burton has attached himself to in well over a decade.

Burton is coming off 2024's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," which he said revived his inner artist after a "soul-destroying" experience making movies for Disney. Things were so dire for the filmmaker that he even contemplated early retirement after directing 2019's "Dumbo." His last original film was 2014's "Big Eyes.