Academy Award-nominated actor Ken Watanabe has signed on to replace fellow performer Benedict Wong in the upcoming sci-fi film True Love. The latter actor, who will be featured in Marvel’s upcoming superhero sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, had to leave True Love due to scheduling conflicts, which led to Watanabe’s casting, Deadline is reporting.
It’s currently unclear at what capaity Wong was originally set to be featured in the upcoming drama. Similarly, it’s also not known which role Watanabe is set to take on.
True Love, whose production started just a little over a month ago, is reuniting Watanabe and director Gareth Edwards, who previously worked together on the 2014 monster movie, Godzilla. Besides helming both features, the filmmaker also wrote the upcoming project.
In addition to Watanabe, True Love also stars previously announced cast members John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney and Sturgill Simpson. The drama’s production company, New Regency, and distributor, 20th Century Studios, haven’t revealed any information about the project’s characters or plot yet, despite having first announced the feature early last year. However, the movie is being described as an original sci-fi story that’s set in the near future.
Production on True Love is currently underway. However, there hasn’t been any announcements about when the film will be released yet.
Edwards, who garnered worldwide attention for his last directorial effort, the 2016 Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, reunited with his collaborator from that film, Kiri Hart, to produce True Love. New Regency is providing the drama’s financing.
Watanabe is best known for his supporting role as Lord Moritsugu Katsumot in helmer Edward Zwick’s 2003 epic period action drama, The Last Samurai, for which he garnered Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. The actor will next be seen in the HBO Max crime drama mini-series, Tokyo Vice, which he also executive produced with Michael Mann, who directed the pilot, as well.