Writer/director Cathy Yan is set to direct and executive produce Paprika, based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s famous novel by the same name for Amazon Studio and Hivemind, Deadline has reported.
Described as a “character-driven sci-fi series” the story follows Atsuko Chiba, who is the most prominent scientist in psychotherapy and lead researcher at the Institute of Psychiatric Research. She uses her dream detective alter ego Paprika to monitor the dreams of her patients, which is a developing new means of treating mental illnesses. To aid her, a colleague creates a super-miniaturized version of the existing dream-analysis devices calling it the DC Mini. Things take a downward turn when the new psychotherapy device is stolen, allowing the assailant to enter and enact mind control on anyone.
Tsutsui’s mind-bending novel was first published in 1993 and a Manga adaptation was released in 2003. In 2006, the novel was adapted as an animated film starring Megumi Hayashibara, Tōru Furuya, Akio Ōtsuka, and more which was then adapted into a second Manga feature by Eri Sakai. Yan’s work would be the first live-action version of the novel.
Yan has features like the Sundance award-winning comedy-drama Dead Pig (2018), and According to My Mother (2016), to her credit. She also directed DC’s Birds of Prey (2020) which focused on Harley Quinn and co, and featured the likes of Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ali Wong, and more. The movie served as a sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad and made the Chinese-born American Yan the first Asian woman to direct a superhero film and a perfect fit to direct the upcoming Amazon sci-fi.
Her short film writing credits include Groomed (2017), Down River (2015), Of Tooth and Time (2014), among many others. She also recently bagged her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the episode of HBO’s hit series Succession, The Disruption, which also marked her series directorial debut.
Masi Oka and Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown will serve as executive producers while Yan will executive produce Paprika with her long time partner Ash Sarohia under their Rewild banner. The duo will next produce The Freshening alongside Ali Wong and Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries/Gary Sanchez Productions with Yan set to write and direct the feature. The movie is set in a futuristic America where people are given injections to cure racism and sexism.
No other details about the project are available yet. Meanwhile, you can check out our conversation with Yan about John Wick director Chad Stahelski’s contribution to Birds of Prey below:
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