The multi-talented Kitano Takeshi (60) has his movie director’s hat on again. Having given up the ultra-violent genre that brought him fame on the world stage, he is getting back to his variety show roots with his latest movie project, titled “Kantoku Banzai”. It is said to include a wide range of styles, ranging from homage to Ozu Yasujiro to horror, romance to science fiction. Producer Mori Masayuki said, “Movies these days are all based on a bestseller or topical story. Kitano’s movies are different. He does his own thing. He’s opening up new frontiers.” It’s Kitano’s 13th movie and the first since the oddball “Takeshis'” in 2005. Mori said that “If that movie was like the moon, this one is the sun. He really enjoyed making it and it will make you laugh out loud.” The film was recently completed and is scheduled to appear in theaters in June.
• Veteran Yoshimoto comedian Miyagawa Daisuke (56) was hospitalized late Monday night following a cerebral hemorrhage. He had experienced numbness in his left arm and leg and will need to be hospitalized for a month. A further couple of months of rehabilitation is expected, but the condition is not thought to be life-threatening. He had been recording a variety show in Osaka on Monday alog with his wife and comic partner Hanako (51) and their daughter Sayumi (28), also a comedienne. The three walked to a local hospital after the filming.
• Actress Sudo Risa (30) recently gave birth to her first child, a baby girl. She married Kawashima Michiyuki (37), vocalist and guitarist of the popular techno-rock duo Boom Boom Satellites, last November. Sudo plans to continue her acting career.