By Kevin Mcgue

Entertainment May. 08, 2011 - 05:30AM JST ( 2 )

TOKYO —

Director Shuichi Okita currently has his hands full as he directs the comedy pairing of veteran actor Koji Yakusho (“Babel,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Shall We Dance?”) with young star Shun Oguri (“Surely Someday,” “Snakes and Earrings”).

The film, which has a working title of “Kitsutsuki to Ame” (The Woodpecker and The Rain), has Yakusho as a 60-year-old lumberjack who takes a young apprentice, played by Oguri, under his wing. The cast is rounded out by Kengo Kora, Asami Usuda and another old pro, Masato Ibu.

The film is only the second to be helmed by Okita, whose debut — “Chef of the South Pole,” about a team of reluctant workers at a research base in Antarctica — became a surprise hit.

Yakusho, 55, worked as a civil servant before becoming an actor, and chose his stage name, which means “ward office,” after a stint at the Chiyoda Ward Office. He also sees his current work as a kind of public service. “After the natural disasters, Japan is desperately trying to rebuild,” the performer reflects in a statement. “The cast and crew of this film were wondering if it is really okay to make a comedy like this at such a time. But our job is creating fictional worlds, and we are working hard to make a film that we hope will make the public laugh again.”

Metropolis magazine