20th Century Fox revealed that they have adapted Michio Shusuke's novel "Karasu no Oyayubi" into a live-action film, starring Abe Hiroshi, Ishihara Satomi, Nounen Rena, Koyanagi Yu, and Murakami Shoji.

"Karasu no Oyayubi" tells the story of two middle-aged men, 'Take' (Abe) and 'Tetsu' (Murakami), who have been unsuccessful in life and eventually became swindlers in order to make a living. Those two are living in a single house, together with two beautiful sisters (Ishihara and Nounen), the older sister's boyfriend (Koyanagi), and a young stray cat. Everyone in this strange community of five experienced several misfortunes in their lives and are now working together to plan out one big coup that will help to put their individual pasts behind them.

Looking back at the filming, Abe commented, "The director's determination was something else. He is probably going to fuss over various things during the editing again. I wonder what kind of movie we will see at the end. No really, I'm totally anticipating the final version."

It's said that director Ito Masashi forced the actors repeat several scenes over and over again, but Abe wasn't really bothered by his fussiness. He continued, "He closely watches the performances of the actors. These days there aren't that many productions that spend so much time during the filming anymore. It was a precious time for me."

Ito responded with a bitter smile, "I'm just desperate". About Abe, he commented, "During my twenty years in the industry, I've never met an actor as stoic as him. It's quite rare to see someone devoting himself to a role as much as he does." Further he added, "Being stoic is one thing, but the problem is that he never even eases up a bit. He completely worn me out. (laughs)"

Aside from Abe, Ito got to work with a really colorful and ambitious cast. Ishihara cut her hair to shoulder-length and Koyanagi gained ten kilogram just for this film.

Abe commented, "Just imagine five such strong personalities living together under one roof. (laughs) The filming was so much fun, because all of them have quite some extraordinary characters."

They've been filming for "Karasu no Oyayubi"� from August 16th until the end of September. It's only the second Japanese production for 20th Century Fox, who are dedicating this movie to all the people who haven't given up since the Great Tohoku Earthquake and are unswervingly striving towards a complete reconstruction of Japan. They commented, "We believe that this movie can give people courage and excitement."

"Karasu no Oyayubi" is scheduled to open in Japan in fall 2012.

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Source + Pictures: eiga.com