TAKESHIS' A film by TAKESHI KITANO - Artificial Eye

Artificial Eye presentsFrom the director of HANA-BI, DOLLS and ZATOICHITAKESHIS’A film by TAKESHI KITANOStarringTAKESHI KITANO, KOTOMI KYONO and KAYOKO KISHIMOTOJapan 2005 / 108 Mins / In Japanese with English Subtitles / Colour / 1:85 / Dolby SRD© 2005 Bandai Visual, Tokyo FM, Dentsu, TV Asahi, OfficeKitano. All Rights ReservedUK RELEASE DATE: 12 FEBRUARY 2010In Competition Surprise Film Venice 2005Masters Toronto 2005An Artificial Eye ReleaseImages are available on image.netFor further information please contact: press@artificial-eye.comArtificial Eye Film Company, 20 - 22 Stukeley Street London WC2B 5LR

CREWWritten, Edited& DirectedCostumesCinematographyLighting DesignProduction DesignSound DesignEditorTakeshi KitanoYohji YamamotoKatsumi YanagijimaHitoshi TakayaNorihiro IsodaSenji HoriuchiYoshinori Ota1 st Assistant Director Takashi MatsukawaScript SupervisorProduction ManagerCastingMusic ProducerMusicSound EffectsLine ProducerProducersKumiko YoshidaKensei MoriTakefumi YoshikawaMisako NodaNagiKenji ShibasakiShinji KomiyaMasayuki Mori and Takio Yoshida© 2005 BANDAI VISUAL, TOKYO FM, DENTSU, TV ASAHI, OFFICEKITANO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED- An Artificial Eye Release -

CASTBeat Takeshi, the moviestar, & Mr. Kitano, Beat’sBlond LookalikeBeat Takeshi's Girlfriend& Kitano's NeighborThe Woman at the MahjongParlor & the Producer at theAudition & the BankCustomer & othersBeat Takeshi's Manager& the Taxi DriverBeat Takeshi's Long-timeAcquaintance & Kitano'sYakuza Neighboras the TV Wardrobe Master& the Noodle Cook & theAuditioning Middle-aged ActorThe SingerBeat Takeshi KitanoKotomi KyonoKayoko KishimotoRen OhsugiSusumu TerajimaTetsu WatanabeAkihiro Miwa

SYNOPSISBeat Takeshi lives the busy, and sometimes surreal, life of a show biz celebrity. But hisblond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, is still an unknown actorwaiting for his big break. After crossing paths with Beat and a series of frustratingauditions, Kitano seems to mysteriously fall into a fantasy state highlighted by aspects ofBeat's real life and violent onscreen persona...

TAKESHI KITANO ON TAKESHIS’For years, I was working over an idea of a film I called Fractal. It’s a story aboutan ordinary guy and events happening around him but at a certain point it takeson a weird twist. He enters into an imaginary world in his consciousness, wherehe sees himself entering into yet another imaginary world, where he, again, seeshim entering into yet another world and so on and on. The story unfolds as itinterweaves between his real time actions and imaginary worlds in hisconsciousness, multi-layered like a Baumkuchen cake.I had been keeping this idea for more than a decade since around the time whenI made my fourth directorial film Sonatine. Since then I have been nudging myproducers to greenlight the project. But every time I asked, they kept putting it offsaying, “maybe next time,” until I changed the character, setting and plot andcalled it TAKESHIS’. Their excuse for putting off the project for all these yearswas that it would be creatively advantageous for me to make different kinds ofmovie as much as possible and try out various ideas in them before I took onsuch an experimental project as Fractal. Which sounds plausible enough but Isuspect they were just afraid of making a so-called “difficult” film with acomplicated plot, which most likely just repels the audience. They thought it wasa perfect recipe for commercial disaster! I was convinced that was the case thistime around. Because when I proposed them last year, “Guys, about that Fractalmovie, I decided to play the main character myself rather than cast anotheractor. And also, I simplified the storyline a great deal. What do you think?” theyimmediately replied, “That sounds great. Let’s do it!”The biggest change I made for TAKESHIS’ from Fractal is the setting of the maincharacter. I opted not only to play the main character myself but also to set theprotagonist as Beat Takeshi / Takeshi Kitano. I deemed that was the mosteffective way to depict characters realistically given the unreal premise of the

story. Of course, that does not mean that Beat Takeshi persona portrayed in thefilm is the equivalent of my real self. The persona in the film is the amalgam ofthe public image of Beat Takeshi that I assume the majority of the Japanesewatching me on TV and films would imagine me to be and the stereotypical“pompous big star” image that I assume to be shared amongst the Japanese. Ireconstructed the story with my utmost intricacy before I set out for shooting butas it turned out my notorious habit of wanting spontaneity reared its nasty headagain and again while shooting and editing.When I finally completed the project, what I felt was not so much a sense ofhaving accomplished what I had always wanted for ages. But rather, every time Ireview the completed film, I am surprised by the strange universe I created onbig screen and how it turned out to be way weirder than I had expected, despiteof the fact that I made the film myself! For those who are about to watch, pleasestop all your cerebral activities and ‘feel’ and ‘experience’ the movie. And afteryou have done that, I would appreciate it if you could watch it again before youstart analyzing.

TAKESHI KITANOWriter-director-actor Takeshi Kitano exchanged his trademark yakuza guns for acane sword of lightning-fast speed in 2003’s ZATOICHI. Directing a period piecefor the first time, Kitano revived the blind cult action antihero Zatoichi for a newgeneration worldwide. ZATOICHI won numerous international awards, includingVenice’s Silver Lion for Best Director and Toronto’s People’s Choice Award.Since 1997's HANA-BI, Kitano has been recognized as a leading cinema figure.Among its numerous awards, HANA-BI won Venice's Golden Lion and wasnamed Best Non-European Film by the European Film Academy. HANA-BI wascited on numerous “Best Films of the Year” lists, often in the premiere position.In 2000, Kitano made BROTHER, his first film shot outside of his native Japan.Like BROTHER, Kitano directed films such as his debut VIOLENT COP (1989),BOILING POINT (1990) and SONATINE (1993) centered around yakuzagangster characters. The filmmaker contrasted the violence and action of thosefilms with comedy or tenderness in films like A SCENE AT THE SEA (1991),GETTING ANY? (1995), KIDS RETURN (1996), KIKUJIRO (1999) and DOLLS(2002). As an actor, Kitano has also appeared in films which he has not directedhimself. Most recently, Kitano gave an award-winning leading performance inYoichi Sai’s 2004 epic BLOOD AND BONES (CHI TO HONE) and he appearedin Takashi Miike’s 2004 film IZO. Kitano’s acting first won international attentionfor his role in Nagisa Oshima’s MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (1983).He collaborated again with Oshima in 1999's samurai epic TABOO (GOHATTO).Other credits include Japanese box-office smash hits Kenta and Kinji Fukasaku'sBATTLE ROYALE II and Kinji Fukasaku's BATTLE ROYALE. Kitano’s credits infilms directed by non-Japanese filmmakers include Robert Longo’s JOHNNYMNEMONIC (US, 1995) and Jean-Pierre Limosin's TOKYO EYES (France,1998).

Kitano was born in Tokyo in 1947 and entered show business in 1972 as “Beat”Takeshi, the stage name he continues to use today as a performer. As part of thecomic duo Two Beats, Kitano was one of the leading figures in the manzai(stand-up comedy) boom in the late 1970s. With his distinctive art of speech andhis idiosyncratic perspective, Kitano became one of the most popularentertainers in the country during the 1980s. After an incredibly prolific anddiverse 30-year career, Kitano continues to be one of the foremost personalitiesin Japan. He participates in weekly TV programs (such as the exported gameshow "Takeshi's Castle" / "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge", originally airedin Japan from 1986-89), as well as several TV films and specials per year. Hehas written a number of novels and collections of short stories, essays andpoetry. Also an accomplished cartoonist and painter, Kitano’s artwork can beseen in HANA-BI and KIKUJIRO.TAKESHI KITANO - FILMOGRAPHYAs a filmmaker2005 TAKESHIS’Director, writer, editorAn Artificial Eye Release2003 ZATOICHIDirector, writer, editorAn Artificial Eye Release2002 DOLLSDirector, writer, editorAn Artificial Eye Release2000 BROTHERDirector, writer, editor1999 KIKUJIRODirector, writer, editor1997 HANA-BI (FIREWORKS)Director, writer, editor

1996 KID’S RETURNDirector, writer, editor1995 GETTING ANY?Director, writer, editor1993 SONATINEDirector, writer, editor1991 A SCENE AT THE SEADirector, writer, editor1990 BOILING POINTDirector, writer, editor1989 VIOLENT COPDirectorTAKESHI KITANO - FILMOGRAPHYAs an actor2005 TAKESHIS’An Artificial Eye Release2004 BLOOD AND BONES (CHI TO HONE)(dir. Yoichi Sai)2004 IZO(dir Takashi Miike)2003 ZATOCHIAn Artificial Eye Release2003 BATTLE ROYALE II(dir Kenta & Kinji Sukasaku)2001 BATTLE ROYALE(dir: Kinji Fukasaku)2000 BROTHER

1999 GOHATTO(dir: Nagisa Oshima)1999 KIKUJIRO1998 TOKYO EYES(dir: Jean-Pierre Limosin)1997 HANA-BI (FIREWORKS)1995 FIVE OF THEM (GONIN)(dir: Takashi Ishii)1995 GETTING ANY?1994 JOHNNY MNEMONIC(dir: Robert Longo)1993 SONATINE1993 MANY HAPPY RETURNS (KYOUSO TANJOU)(dir: Toshiro Tenma)1990 BOILING POINT1989 VIOLENT COP1983 MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE(dir: Nagisa Oshima)