Ikuta Toma & Eita to star in new movie "Yuuzai"

Ikuta Toma and Eita will be joint leads in the new movie "Yuuzai" (Sin of a friend) directed by Zeze Takahisa which will be shown in cinemas next May. This will be the third collaboration of the actors as they had acted together in the 2009 FujiTV drama "Voice ~ Inochinakimono no Koe ~" where Eita was the lead and the 2016 movie "Mogura no Uta Hong Kong Kyousoukyoku" where Ikuta was the lead but their first as double leads. Filming began on 22nd July and is due to be completed in August.

The movie is based on the same-titled novel by Yakumaru Gaku which features Ikuta as Masuda who used to dream of being a journalist but had his hopes dashed and Eita as Suzuki who works at a small factory but doesn't talk about his past. The two of them who are of the same age, become friends when they happen to work at the same factory but when Masuda accidentally finds out that Suzuki may be the culprit behind a series of murders involving children 17 years ago when he was still a teenager, their friendship changes due to the complex mix of emotions such as doubt and regret.

Ikuta and Eita who are close friends and go for meals together, expressed their delight in being able to work together again. Ikuta described Eita as someone who has both the sharpness of a beast and the gentleness of a loving person and is looking forward to work hard with him in this movie. Eita also echoed his view and praised Ikuta for being a stoic person and very observant to slight changes.

Ikuta revealed that he had read the novel before being offered the role and had thought about challenging himself one day if the opportunity ever came. As for Eita, he revealed that he was a bit apprehensive about the theme of this story and appreciated how tough it would be to play this character but decided to take up the challenge.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi / Eiga.com