News
Live-Action Films of Higanjima, Goth Stories Casted (Updated)
posted on by Mikhail Koulikov
Kōji Yamamoto, the actor who most recently appeared in the Japanese historical television series Shinsengumi and the medical drama Pandora, has been cast in the lead role of the live-action theatrical film adaptationof Kōji Matsumoto's Higanjima horror manga. In the story, a young man leads a search party for his missing brother on the titular island and discovers that there are vampires and other creatures lurking on it. The Japanese/South Korean co-production is on track for a Summer 2009 release. Yamamoto will be joined on the cast by Dai Watanabe, a rising actor who is the son of Academy Award nominee Ken Wanatabe (The Last Samurai, Letters from Iwo Jima).
Actor Kanata Hongō is playing the main male lead in the Japanese live-action film in Japanese live-action adaptation of Otsu-ichi's Goth novel. The mystery suspense story follows a high school boy and girl who are obssessed with death as they try to solve a series of murders. Rin Takanashi will make her film debut as the main female character. Gen Takahashi's film will open in Japan in late December, while Tokyopop is releasing the original novel and Kendi Oiwa's manga adaptation in North America this fall. America's Fox Atomic is developing a separate live-action film based on the manga.
Source: Twitch, Tokyograph
Update: The Nikkan Sports and Mainichi Shimbun papers now say that Hideo Ishiguro (Elite Yankee Saburow, One-Pound Gospel, Kamen Rider Den-O) will play the lead role in Higanjima. Watanabe remains in the cast. Thanks, Amarylis.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history