Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles is considered a film classic, even though it's stirred up some controversy over the years. Now the film is being retold in an entirely new medium, as well as an entirely new genre.
The Los Angeles film company Align is helping develop an animated film titled Blazing Samurai. The film takes the basic premise of Blazing Saddles and transplants it to the Samurai era. The story follows a dog named Hank who dreams of becoming a Samurai. When he becomes in charge of protecting Kakamucho, he learns that the town is populated entirely by cats.
The film is directed by Mark Koetsier and produced by animation legend Rob Minkoff, who directed The Lion King (1994). Its voice cast includes Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, George Takei, Michelle Yeoh, Djimon Hounsou and Mel Brooks.
"We’ve always been passionate about animation and are thrilled to be taking part in Blazing Samurai," Align co-founder Adrian Politowski said in a statement. "With the arrival of COVID-19 across Europe and North America, our team came together to shift our strategy to meet the limitations of the new filmmaking landscape. It was a natural step for us to shift our focus to high-end commercial animation projects. Blazing Samurai is the first of more to come."
Blazing Saddles was first released in 1974. The plot follows Bart (Cleavon Little), a Black man who becomes the sheriff of the small town known as Rock Ridge. It also stars the late Gene Wilder as "The Waco Kid".
(via Deadline)