The beloved 1980s NHK television drama "Oshin" is to return on its 30th anniversary.
The producers announced at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday that the worldwide smash hit has been remade as a movie as its 30th anniversary approaches. Aya Ueto and SMAP's Goro Inagaki have been cast in the big screen adaptation of the serial.
The TV series follows the life of heroine Oshin Tanokura from 1907 up to the early 1980s. It consisted of 297 15-minute episodes and is widely regarded as one of the finest dramas ever shown on Japanese TV. Oshin’s strength and determination never to give up hope in the face of adversity became an inspiration to people all over the world. The series was aired in 59 countries and in multiple languages.
In the original series, Ayako Kobayashi played Oshin as a young girl, Yuko Tanaka played her as an adult and Nobuko Otowa played her later in life. At its height, the drama drew a peak rating of 62.9%.
In the movie, Ueto and Inagaki will play Oshin's parents. The film's production team told reporters that 2,471 young girls were auditioned for the role of the heroine, before the role was eventually given to 8-year-old model Kokone Hamata, TV Asahi reported Wednesday.
Filming took place in Yamagata Prefecture, where the original series was shot.
The movie is scheduled for release in October.
© Japan Today
6 Comments
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ka_chan
So they are going to condense over 4400(297x15) minutes into what 2 hours? I think they are going to loose something in the cutting. May work better as a Trilogy, childhood, until the death of her husband, modern times. Still are they going to include her communist association in today's conservative Japan? Even in the series the association was not made explicit. Will they cut the deserter who save her life and letter was shot in front of her by the kompeitai? Since the original ended (1984) before the bubble economy (1986-1991) that bottomed in 2003, wonder if it will add anything new twist? The movie will probably be popular but it can't be as good a story as the original series since it was the little things that make the story work.
papigiulio
They should cast better actors. Always the same crap tarentos.
Mohamad Taufiq Morshidi
Oh, okay.
http://i.imgur.com/SQIGHby.png
No thanks.
JDB829
Looking forward to see how it turns out. The original TV series was very moving ! A classic !
nath
Tall order for remaking a classic, big mistake, Inagaki, "talentless!"
Bartholomew Harte
We have every episode and the cast was exellent! making a big screen version may bring in $$$ but if they had smarts they would carefully edit the Original & put that one the big screen.Make it 2 parts with intermission like Gone With The Wind,Spartacus & many other Classic films , Show it around New Years holiday when people will relate to it.