Multiple award-winning movie director Nomura Yoshitaro died from pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital yesterday. He was 81. He is remembered for a filmography that was as broad as it was long and included drama, tragedy, thrillers and samrai epics. His most famous film is perhaps “Suna no Utsuwa” (The Castle of Sand, 1974), which won an award at the Moscow International Film Festival. Born in 1919 in Kyoto, he studied art at Keio University and joined the Shochiku movie company after graduation in 1941. He was an assistant director to Kurosawa Akira on his 1951 film “Hakuchi” (The Idiot) and won a Blue Ribbon award as best new director the following year. Two movies in 1978, “Jiken” (The Incident) and “Kichiku” (The Demon) won him a special award from the Cultural Affairs ministry. In 1985, “Kikkenna Onnatachi” (Dangerous Women) was the first Japanese movie adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel.
• Horror director Nakata Hideo (43) gave a press conference yesterday to talk about the US release of his movie “The Ring 2.” The movie made No.1 in the US box office in its opening weekend, bringing in $36 million. It is scheduled to open in Japan on June 18. Nakata also confirmed that the deal for him to remake the Thai horror flick “The Eye” has been finalized. The film is being produced by Tom Cruise, and Sanada Hiroyuki is said to be interested in starring. The pair appeared together in “The Last Samurai” and Sanada also starred in Nakata’s first “Ringu” movie.