Tommy Lee Jones will join Matthew Fox in Emperor, a drama directed by Peter Webber. Jones will portray General Douglas MacArthur in the film based on a screenplay by David Klass and Vera Blasi. Yoko Narahashi, Gary Foster, Eugene Nomura and Russ Krasnoff are producing.
Inspired by true events, Emperor is set amidst the tensions and uncertainties of the days immediately following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Gen. MacArthur is the de facto ruler of Japan as Supreme Commander of the occupying forces, and he leans on a leading Japanese expert on his staff, General Bonner Fellers (Fox), to reach a decision of historical importance: should Emperor Hirohito be tried and hanged as a war criminal? Fellers’ feellings are complicated by his love affair with Aya, a Japanese exchange student he had met years previously in the U.S. Memories of Aya and his quest to find her in the ravaged post-war landscape help Fellers to discover both his wisdom and his humanity and enable him to come to the momentous decision that changed the course of history and the future of two nations.
Producer Gary Foster said: “Tommy will bring strength, intelligence, and gravitas to the portrayal of General Douglas MacArthur, a legendary American hero.” Jones is repped by CAA, Fox by Management 360 and WME. Production begins this month in New Zealand and Japan. CAA is selling domestic and the film’s a co-production between Fellers Film and Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment.
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