Okada Junichi to star in the real-life movie adaptation of "Kaizoku to yobareta otoko"

V6's Okada Junichi will be starring in the real-life movie adaptation of "Kaizoku to yobareta otoko" (The man who was called the pirate) which will be shown in cinemas come winter 2016. The movie which is based on the bestselling novel by Hyakuta Naoki, will be directed by Yamazaki Takashi and the team who was responsible for the 2014 No.1 hit movie "Eien no Zero" which was based on another Hyakuta novel and featured Okada as its lead. Okada received the offer to act in this movie early this year and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he will be working with the "Eien no Zero" team again although there was apprehension over being compared to his award-winning performance in the earlier movie if he took up the offer.

"Kaizoku to yobareta otoko" which was released in July 2012, is a history novel which has sold more than 3.64 million copies to date and had won the 2013 Honya Taisho. The story is set in the turbulent times from the Meiji, Taisho to the Showa eras. Okada plays the lead character Kunioka Tetsuzo who is a shrewd entrepreneur and tries to develop his oil business despite external and internal pressures. He is nicknamed "kaizoku" by the people around him and the movie will depict his life from his 20s to his 90s. Okada commented that he hopes to show the toughness of Kunioka as he tries to overcome various difficulties and open up new routes to success during the tough times he lived in. In preparation for his role, Okada also had to undergo training in the Hakata dialect. As the movie needs to present vastly different scenes in places such as Tokyo in ruins after the war air raids and a tanker ship heading towards Iran, there will be extensive use of VFX.

Filming is currently in progress.

Source: Nikkansports / Sanspo