-By Borys Kit

The 1980s were the heyday of the ninjas. "The Ninja" by Eric Van Lustbader topped the book charts, and movies like "American Ninja" were the flickering fantasy in every boy's eyes. Heck, even "Magnum P.I." had episode with ninjas in them. Then, as ninjas are wont to do, they disappeared.

Dark Castle and Legendary Pictures are hoping the time is right for the return of these stealthy assassins with "Ninja Assassin," which gushes (and I mean gushes) its way into theaters Nov. 25, hoping to slice into the audience that is not going to see "New Moon." The movie is directed by James McTeigue, who also directed "V for Vendetta." Both movies were produced by the Wachowskis, who first worked with the Australian when they hired him to act as first assistant director on "The Matrix."

Heat Vision had a chance to talk to McTeigue at the movie's premiere afterparty, which was, fittingly, at Yamashiro's, the Japanese castle-restaurant overlooking Hollywood.

Why do you think it's been such a long time since we've seen a major ninja movie? It's been about 20 years.
I think genres exhaust themselves sometimes. And if you look at the Western genre, that's exhausted itself; the musical did, too. And I think that after there, those really low-budget ninja movies in the '80s, people went "I need a rest from that." But I wanted to take the B genre-ness and give it the affection of A-genre, get Warner Bros. to give us money and make a good movie out of it. Hopefully. I've succeeded.

What do you think is the enduring appeal of ninjas?
They are classic. I like the way they resolve in and out of darkness, the way they are like guerrilla fighters. They kick ass. People identify with them because they want to be them. Every little kid ... this friend of mine was telling me a minute ago that he left his son at home tonight and the son said, "Dad, what are you off to see?" And he said, "I'm going to see a ninja movie." And the son said, "Without me?!" So I think they are a classic archetype.

It's funny you say kids want to see them because you made one of the most un-kid-friendly movies of the year.
That is true. I think there are ninja movies for kids; that's already been done. But I was interested in taking and homaging the ninja movies from the '80s, and taking the stuff I grew up with, like Japanese shows like "Shintaro," "The Samurai" and "The Phantom Agents" (Japanese shows that played in Australia), and make this confluence of styles -- anime, game player, horror, film noir -- and make it cool. But you're right, it's very adult.

I heard the first cut was in NC-17 territory.
Well surprisingly enough, the cut you see is the cut I submitted to the MPAA. I didn't take anything out. I think, much credit to the MPAA, they saw what I was trying to do, which was stylized violence. I wasn't saying this is a real situation. It's cartoony, graphic novelly. I'm not saying this is "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," or even like "Seven."

You've spent a lot of time with the Wachowskis. What's the key to the collaboration?
Those guys are great friends, and they are also extraordinary filmmakers. We've known each other for 10 years now, and we have a symbiotic relationship. I really understand them and they really understand me. They are great producers who really understand how films are put together.

McTeigue is prepping his next movie, "The Raven," a thriller featuring Edgar Allan Poe hunting a serial killer which will incorporate the classic American author's dark poems.
-Nielsen Business Media