Ralph Ziman Takes Directing Duties on KITE

Remake finds new director and casts its leads.

South African filmmaker Ralph Ziman (‘Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema’) has been set as the director of the live action remake of Yasuomi Umetsu’s Japanese anime ‘Kite’ following the untimely passing of original director David R. Ellis.

The remake, described as a character-driven action film, will star India Eisley (‘Underworld: Awakening’) as Sawa, a young woman living in a failed state after the financial collapse, where a corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When her father, a cop, is slain by someone dirty inside the force, she vows to track the murderer down with the help of her father’s ex-partner, Karl Aker (played by Samuel L. Jackson). Young Australian Callan McAuliffe (‘I Am Number Four,’ ‘The Great Gatsby’) is attached to co-star.

‘Kite’ will be produced by Anant Singh and Distant Horizon’s Brian Cox alongside co-producers Moises Cosio and Alberto Muffelmann of Detalle Films. Pre-production is underway in Johannesburg with principal photography to begin later this month.