Interest

Jake Adelstein's Tokyo Vice Book About Yakuza Gets Film Starring Daniel Radcliffe

The Deadline entertainment news website reported on Wednesday that Harry Potter films' star Daniel Radcliffe will portray American reporter Jake Adelstein in the Tokyo Vice film based on Adelstein's book. Adelstein is a noted yakuza (Japanese mafia) expert who wrote about crime and the yakuza for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Adelstein became entangled with the yakuza because of his work and specifically with yakuza boss Tadamasa Goto, and wrote about his experiences in Tokyo Vice.

Music video and commercials director Anthony Mandler will direct the film, and playwright JT Rogers is writing the script. John Lesher (End of Watch) and Adam Kassan at Le Grisbi Productions are producing the film. Adelstein himself is working with Rodgers on the script. Production on the film is scheduled to start in early 2014.

Adelstein currently writes for The Daily Beast, The Japan Times, and The Atlantic Wire. Publisher Pantheon will release Adelstein's new book The Last Yakuza next year.

Adelstein appeared on Anime News Network's ANNCast in 2011 to talk about his life as a reporter in Japan, his trouble with the yakuza because of his job, the life of yakuza members, and the yakuza's influence on the Japanese entertainment industry.