Friday, February 23, 2018

Update on Oosugi Ren's sudden demise and the aftermath

Following Oosugi Ren's sudden demise due to acute heart failure on 21 February, there are more details about the final moments of his life as well as announcements about the projects which involved him. Here is a summary of the information known so far:


- The filming of "Byplayers 2" on 20 February began at 8am in Chiba Prefecture and ended at 9pm. The cast and staff then returned to the hotel they were staying at for their dinner and they were having drinks as usual. After the meal, Oosugi returned to his room where he complained of severe stomach pains. Matsushige Yutaka was the first to notice something amiss and with Oosugi's manager, they helped Oosugi into a taxi and headed to a hospital located within the prefecture as he was still conscious then. The rest of the cast and staff subsequently headed to the hospital where they were by Oosugi's bedside with his family members until he passed away.

- Oosugi's son Junpei who is a photographer, was away at Niigata for work when he got the news about his father and rushed back to Tokyo. The last time he met his father was three days ago when they had a meal together.

- The filming of "Byplayers 2" was to have ended on 27 February and the cast and staff were filming the last episode on the day when Oosugi collapsed. As for the broadcast schedule of Eps 4 and 5, TV Tokyo is still considering what to do.

- The stage play "1984" starring Oosugi which is due to be performed at New National Theatre from 12 April to 13 May, will go on as scheduled with another actor to replace Oosugi. There will be no ticket refunds and the announcement of the replacement actor will be released via the theatre's website. The stage play is based on the same-titled novel by British writer George Orwell and was first staged at London in 2014 and at Broadway in 2017. The Japanese version attracted a lot of attention due to the collaboration between Oosugi and the prince of musicals Inoue Yoshio so tickets were all snapped up on the first day of sale on 18 February.

- BS Fuji will be airing an extended 2-hr special version of the travel variety show "Renpo" featuring Oosugi on 25 February at 2pm instead of its original broadcast date of 3 March. The programme was first shown via FujiTV's terrestrial channel on 3 January 2018 and it was filmed in Kamakura on 8 December last year. Guest stars included Itaya Yuka, Katsumura Masanobu, Kaname Jun, Tanaka Yoji and Yamazaki Masayoshi.

- TV Asahi's drama "Aibou season 16" which featured Oosugi as Kinugasa Toji, confirmed that there will be no change to the broadcast schedule but declined to reveal when and if Oosugi's character will appear in the later episodes. His last appearance was in Ep 13 which was shown on 24 January.

- TV Asahi aired a memorial special programme on Oosugi on 22 February at noon by changing its usual broadcast schedule.

- Oosugi was to appear in the movie "Koi no Shizuku" starring Kawaei Rina which is to be released within 2018. Filming had been completed.

- Oosugi had appeared in CMs for Suzuki's SPACIA and Daito Trust Construction.

- NTV expressed their condolences through the official Twitter of its new Spring 2018 drama "Seigi no Se" starring Yoshitaka Yuriko as Oosugi was supposed to play Yoshitaka's boss Umemiya Yuzuru in the drama.

- Oosugi was part of the soccer team Iwashi Club (Sardine Club) which was formed in 1992 and comprises of industry insiders and those outside the industry. The team has a match twice every month and Oosugi wore the jersey with the number 10. He always spoke with pride how his team is older than the J League which was established a year later in 1993. He used to be a very agressive player but changed his style after his 40s so as to prevent injuries to himself and other players.

- A reporter of Sponichi Annex met Oosugi on the set of "Byplayers 2" at 1pm on 20 February when the main cast was shooting the last scene in Ep 5. The same reporter had interviewed Oosugi and Matsushige earlier on 5 February so the reporter thanked Oosugi for that to which the latter responded with thanks as well. During the interview, Matsushige said that Oosugi had never changed since they first worked together in Matsushige's debut movie in 1992 i.e. "Jigoku no Keibihin". He mentioned how Oosugi was so young mentally with his innovative ideas such as making them appear from the sea in the opening credits of "Byplayers 2" and arranging for secret guests which nobody knew about until the actual filming.

Sources: Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports 2 / Nikkansports 3 / Nikkansports 4 / Nikkansports 5 / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi 1 / Yomiuri Hochi 2 / Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Sponichi 3

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