Since he finally made it off the Lost island, Matthew Fox has been trying to build his film career. He’ll be seen this year in both World War Z and I, Alex Cross and has just signed on to a slightly smaller film, snagging the lead in Peter Webber’s Emperor.
The story (inspired by true events) is set in Japan right at the end of World War II. Fox is on as General Bonner Fellers, acclaimed as a Japanese expert and faced with a daunting decision: should the emperor, Hirohito be charged with war crimes and hanged for his actions in the global conflict?
But because big historical stories always seem to need a little love interest to keep them ticking along, there’s also a subplot about Fellers trying to find the girl he met when she was an exchange student in the States before the breakout of hostilities. Has she survived? Will they be reunited? And how does that polar bear fit into it a… No, sorry: that’s Lost again.
With David Klass and Vera Blasi on script duties, Webber is busy setting up a shoot that will encompass both New Zealand and Japan itself.