First-day-screening event of new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami" was held at Marunouchi Picadilly on 28 January which was attended by the director Kobayashi Shotaro and cast members Sasaki Kuranosuke, Yokoyama Yu, Kitagawa Keiko, Kinoshita Houka, Johnny's WEST Hamada Takahiro, Yamoto Yuma, Hashimoto Manami and Hashizume Isao. The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Naoki Award winner Kurokawa Hiroyuki, features Sasaki as a gang member Kuwahara who teams up with a construction consultant Ninomiya (Yokoyama) to chase after a fraudster (Hashizume) to the Kansai region and Macau so as to get back their money.

During the event, the cast were asked a number of questions by the host of which one was whether they wanted to do another person's role in this movie where it turned out that only Yamoto chose yes. When asked about this question, Kitagawa who plays Ninomiya's cousin, commented that there were very few female roles in this movie so even if she wanted to change, there was only Hashimoto's role as the fraudster's mistress to choose from. However, she didn't think that she had that feminine charm to pull off that role so she felt that the casting choice was just right. In response, Hashimoto commented that she was happy to be praised for being charming and that she would not have been able to play Kitagawa's role in response.

As most of the cast members come from the Kansai region, they were asked a "taboo" question of when they felt that they had "sold their souls" to Tokyo. Sasaki who comes from Kyoto and answered yes, said that when he came to Tokyo for the university exam, he unconsciously spoke in standard Japanese rather than Kansai-ben when he reached Tokyo Station and wanted to ask for directions to go to Shinjuku. When he realised it, he felt so bad about it that he made sure he used Kansai-ben for the rest of his trip. Meanwhile, Yokoyama and Kinoshita also answered yes to this question. Kinoshita revealed that he felt this way at an early stage when he left Osaka to come to Tokyo at the age of 25. Apparently, he was so used to life in Tokyo especially how people would queue up properly and there would be less honking and screeching from cars on the road that he sometimes found it tough to adjust when he returned to Osaka. However, Yokoyama who also comes from Osaka, said that despite the differences, he still loved Osaka for its warm atmosphere as he related how he was given sweets by a middle-aged lady while he was filming there.

Sources: Oricon / Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 4th & 5th February 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (350)

2) Doctor Strange (350)

3) Kiseki - Ano Hi no Sobito - (171)

4) Kimi no na wa (296)

5) Kimi to 100-kaime no Koi (190)

6) Koisaika Miyamoto (315)

7) Kono sekai no katasumi ni (68)

8) Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami (303)

9) Chinmoku Silence (342)

10) Shinjuku Swan II (334)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 28th & 29th January 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Doctor Strange (350)

2) Kiseki Ano hi no sobito (156)

3) Kimi no na wa (296)

4) Koisaika Miyamoto (314)

5) Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami (302)

6) Shinjuku Swan II (334)

7) Honnouji Hotel (282)

8) Chinmoku Silence (342)

9) Kono sekai no katasumi ni (68)

10) The Magnificent Seven (291)

Source: Eiga.com

Completion screening event of new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami"

The completion screening event of new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami" was held at Marunouchi Picadilly on 13 December which was attended by the director Kobayashi Shotaro and cast members Sasaki Kuranosuke, Yokoyama Yu, Kitagawa Keiko, Johnny's WEST Hamada Takahiro, Hashimoto Manami and Hashizume Isao as well as the original novel's author Kurokawa Hiroyuki. The film features Sasaki as the bad-tempered gangster Kuwahara Yasuhiko who forms an unlikely alliance with a poor construction consultant Ninomiya Takayuki to chase after a phony movie producer Koshimizu (Hashizume) in the Kansai region and Macau after the latter cheats them.

Sasaki commented that he had managed to achieve a breakthrough this time with his portrayal of this gangster character. As he had hardly come across such characters in his acting career so far, being able to do this and especially using Kansai-ben which is his hometown language made him feel even more satisfied with what he had done in this movie. As for the fighting scenes, he gave his all without holding back even when treating Hashimoto roughly and stepping on his senior Hashizume,

When the audience was shouting "Kura-san" at Sasaki once they saw him appear, Yokoyama commented sadly that nobody calls out to him like that which led the audience to start calling him "Yoko-san". On the other hand, Yokoyama revealed that Hamada, his junior from the same agency suffered from sore eyes on the first day of the filming which was said to be due to not washing his hands thoroughly enough thus causing an infection. As such, Hamada apologised for the inconvenience caused then.

As for Kitagawa whose hometown is in Kobe, this was the first time that she used Kansai-ben at work. Usually, she uses the standard language but she speaks in Kansai-ben in private. During the filming, she tried hard to make sure that her Kansai-ben lines were done properly and got a tape from the director with the correct pronunciation and was even coached on set by Yokoyama who praised her for being more proficient in the dialect than they expected at first.

The movie will be shown in cinemas from 28 January 2017.

Source: Eiga.com

Kitagawa Keiko to be the heroine in new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami"

Kitagawa Keiko will be the heroine in the new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami" which is due to be shown in cinemas from 28 January. She will play the role of a beautiful woman Yuki who one of the leads Yokoyama Yu is in love with. In this movie, Kitagawa who comes from Kobe City, will be speaking Kansai-ben throughout the entire movie which will be a first for her. Previously, she had done the same in the 2012 TV Asahi drama "Mi wo tsukushi Ryourichou".

Although speaking Kansai-ben should be a breeze for Kitagawa, the problem is that she had left her hometown to work and stay in Tokyo since she was 17 so she had to go through training with a dialect teacher so as to get the intonation correct. As most of the cast members are from the Kansai region, Kitagawa commented that it is a very rare experience to be able to converse in Kansai-ben with her colleagues and staff.

The only cast member who does not come from the Kansai region is Hashimoto Manami who hails from Yamagata and she plays the lover of a movie producer (Hashizume Isao). Although Hashimoto has been named as the No.1 woman who men want to have as a lover, this is actually her first role as a lover. Hashimoto remarked that the biggest challenge for her is having to speak her lines in Kansai-ben so she has been practising hard to get the accent correct.

Sources: Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2

Sasaki Kuranosuke & Yokoyama Yu to star in new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami"

Sasaki Kuranosuke and Yokoyama Yu will be starring in the new movie "Hamon Futari no Yakubyougami" (Expulson Two Evil Gods) which will be shown in cinemas from 28 January 2017. The movie which is based on Kurokawa Hiroyuki's novel titled "Hamon" which won the 151st Naoki Award, features Kuwahara Yasuhiko, a hot-tempered yakuza and Ninomiya Hiroyuki, a poor consultant who form an unlikely combination while caught in a chase set in the Kansai region and Macau. Sasaki will be playing Kuwahara while Yokoyama will be playing Ninomiya in this new movie which is to be directed by Kobayashi Shotaro and written by Manabe Katsuhiko and Kojima Kensaku.

Source: Eiga.com