Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Zatoichi To Unsheath His Sword One Final Time
The news is all over the interweb -- Sakamoto Junji's Zatôichi The Last (『座頭市 THE LAST』) began shooting two days ago. It will be the final time the blind anti-hero graces the screen. And in the titular role? SMAP member Katori Shingo, who previously starred in Monkey Magic and hit TV drama Shinsegumi, two name two. You can read my article about the production for Screen here.
What do you think of Katori playing such a legendary character? I've set up a poll in the top right of the sidebar to get a rough idea, but you can leave comments to explain yourself.
Also interested to hear what people think of Sakamoto as the helmer. I've spent time on two Sakamoto sets -- I'd be curious to see how things are going up at Yamagata's Shônai Eiga Mura -- a large open set facility where the likes of Sukiyaki Western Django, Departures and last year's Ichi (also produced by Nakazawa Toshiaki) were shot.
I remember hearing one funny tale (there are hundreds) about Katsu "Katsushin" Shintarô, who of course played Zatôichi for a large part of his life. Sakamoto Junji was a passenger in his car as they drove along a busy road. When Sakamoto was nearing his destination, Katsu let him out in the middle of traffic to fend for himself. I think Katsu was addicted to making people scared.
I've just realized something bizarre. Three of SMAP's five members have played blind characters. Can you name the other two actors/films?
4 comments:
Raised by Johnny Kitagawa, I guess the SMAP-boys must have had their fair amount of "acting"-training with their eyes closed.(scnr)
I'll probably keep ignoring Sakamoto's movies until the day he makes another boxer flick. ;)
Takuya Kimura is obviously the class of the SMAP troupe so I can't say that this news engenders any confidence in the project. Sakamoto's work is decent enough but I can't say that any of his films have resonated with me. Regardless, I'm a Zatoichi junkie and will be seeing this eventually.
Oh and to answer your question: Kimura in Bushi no Ichibun and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi in My Darling of the Mountains. Is it just me or does Kusanagi look like an alien? That and he runs like a woman!
Correct on the two other roles.
And as usual for Johnny's-related productions, any female love interest is seriously downplayed in publicity. Not one of the 20+ articles in the Japanese media mentioned who plays the wife!
Perhaps the role hasn't been cast yet, but...
I LOVED "Shinsengumi" as a whole, but the biggest problem was Katori, the leading character. Many supporting actors, such as Masato Sakai, Koji Yamamoto, Joe Odagiri, and Tatsuya Fujiwara (all are BIG now), could really ACT, so Katori looked even MORE miserable, particularly at the beginning.
I don't know WHAT is going on here...
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