The early life of Japanese cultural icon Takeshi “Beat” Kitano is set to have a the biopic treatment in a film, it has been announced today. The film, titled “Asakusa Kid”, will be based on the memoir written by Kitano himself and will focus on the early career of the comedian and legendary director.
The focus of the story will be on the relationship between the young Kitano, starting when he was working at a strip club in the Tokyo entertainment district of Asakusa, and Fukami, who was the club's reigning comic.
The project will be directed and written for screen by comic Gekidan Hitori, who also directed the 2014 drama “Bolt from the Blue”. Yuya Yagira, best known for Koreeda's “Nobody Knows” and for playing Toshiro Hijitaka in the live-action adaptation of the “Gintama” series, will play Kitano while Yo Oizumi (“I am a Hero“) will play Fukami Senzaburo, a comedian who was Kitano's mentor. Kazutaka Sakamoto of Netflix is serving as executive producer and Yoichi Oyamada of Nikkatsu will be the producer.
In a statement, Gekidan Hitori said that he has been developing the script for six years and that “I've long awaited the day when I could work together with everyone about a person, town and story that I love.”
Starting his career as a comedian, Kitano went on to become one of the biggest names on the Japanese comedy scene, first as part of a duo called “The Two Beats” (hence, “Beat Takeshi”) and then as a solo act with a wide range of jokes and styles of humour. Acting soon followed, including an appearance in Nagisa Oshima‘s “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence“. He then made his directorial debut in 1989 with “Violent Cop” and went on to make some fo the best films of his career throughout the 90s. The 1997 cop drama “Hana-bi” even went on to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His directing style has been characterized by long takes, minimal camera movement, brief dialogue, sly humor, and sudden violence. Kitano's films often feature Yakuza gangsters, with Kitano himself frequently playing the tough guy lead. His latest directorial was the 2017 “Outrage Coda“, which concluded the lauded Outrage Trilogy.
“Asakusa Kid” is scheduled to stream on Netflix in winter 2021.