Director Tran Anh Hung will direct filming of “Norwegian Wood.”

Haruki Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood' coming to big screen

Thursday 31st July, 01:49 PM JST

TOKYO —

The worldwide best-selling novel “Norwegian Wood,” written by Haruki Murakami, 59, will become a film, Fuji TV and Asmik Ace Entertainment said Thursday. Written in 1987, “Norwegian Wood” deals with the narrator’s memories of his student days in the 1960s and his relationships with two very different women.

According to the producers, the film will be directed by French-Vietnamese Tran Anh Hung, 46, and feature Japanese actors. Production is scheduled to start in February 2009, and the film will be released in 2010. Murakami has long declined offers to make the story into a film.

In an official comment, Hung said, “The original story is very dynamic but sensitive and has tenderness and grace. It will be a challenge for me to capture so many elements.”

10 Comments

northlondon at 01:58 PM JST - 31st July

This is a great novel, one of my favourite Murakami books before he lost his touch a little. My concern is the involvement of Fuji TV, who have a poor track record in television programming. Please don't turn this into a Japanese talent showcase.
Zen_Builder at 02:03 PM JST - 31st July

Agree on Fuji TV, wish NTV would have gotten it. I kinda like NTV myself.
roobus1 at 03:09 PM JST - 31st July

yeah I agree there too... just make it true to the story, it's one of my favourite novels... please don't wreck it !
borscht at 04:58 PM JST - 31st July

Don't turn this into a Japanese talento showcase

Northlondon, what else can they do? Nobody's going to watch unless three or five talento are on board and the script is dummied down enough for them to be able to understand it.

I also hope it turns out to be a fine production worthy of the novel. I'm just not keeping my fingers crossed.
northlondon at 05:10 PM JST - 31st July

Does anyone know whether this is a television film production or for theatrical cinema release ? Airing it as a television film would be a crime.
akaguma at 11:23 PM JST - 31st July

what a sellout. one day it would be very refreshing for an author to knock back the big bucks. good books very rarely make good films and when they do it is usually because of an inspired director. the book will almost always be better because the author lets the reader create their own vision of the story. murakami has now just joined the big queue of sellout authors.
Ah_so at 12:09 AM JST - 1st August

This book was a worldwide success. Surely we should be getting some Chinese actresses and Jet-Li to play the main parts.

But seriously, if this film is made well, it is likely to be just as big a success out of Japan as inside, so care should be taken when selecting the right actor and actresses.
delitachan at 10:17 AM JST - 1st August

The Orgy book? :P Just kidding. Started reading it earlier this summer before I'd left to Japan. The thing is, I'm sure I read in the afterward that this was NOT a memoir of the author's life. He'd mentioned his own was "too boring."

I agree that he's lost his touch. Anyone read "After Dark?" That novel wasn't very good.
Bizarro at 07:53 AM JST - 2nd August

In response to akaguma's comment.

1) For what it's worth, Tran Anh Hung is a very serious director. His past films like The Scent of Green Papaya and The Vertical Ray of the Sun have been quite beautiful and made him one of the more critically acclaimed directors worldwide.

2) I think the film should be seen as completely separate from the book. Of course the book is nearly always better, but for that reason it can stand on its own and has nothing to fear from the film. Therefore I see no reason for charges of "sellout".

3) This notion that talented artists somehow ought to live in poverty to comply with someone else's notion of a kind of purity, while the rest of us seek our fortunes, is hard for me to grasp.

Cheers,
stanoue at 09:09 AM JST - 3rd August

Well said, Bizarro!