Mad for a Mangamovie

IT WAS FIVE years ago when Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura came to Thailand, as a producer of the 2011 thriller “Hellgate”, starring William Hurt.

Few have heard of the movie, which has yet to be screened here, but the experience was valuable for Kitamura, who kept Thailand in mind for another project a few years later, his newest film“Lupin III”, which had its Thai premiere last Friday as the opener of Bangkok’s Japanese Film Festival.

Kitamura made his mark in 2000 with the genre-jumping martial-arts science-fiction crime drama “Versus”. Another eye-opener was the bloody historical martial-arts fantasy “Azumi” from 2003. He then lit out for Hollywood to direct the cult horror flicks “Midnight Meat Train” and “No One Lives”, before returning to the East to begin work on “Lupin III”.

Created in 1967 by the artist Monkey Punch, “Lupin III” was inspired by the gentleman thief Arsene Lupin of French author Maurice Leblanc’s novels written in the 1930s. These were globe-trotting tales, with many capers set in European locales.

So Bangkok must have seemed like an odd choice for the filming, but Kitamura and his cast and crew ended up spending three years here.

“When my producer, Mataichiro Yamamoto, called me in LA to do ‘Lupin III’, I told him, ‘No way, we don’t want to mess it up!’” the 46-year-old director said during a post-screening discussion. “But I finally accepted the idea, and I’ve never let the original down. ‘Lupin’ has a long history and I have to respect the original. 

“My main focus was on how to bring the five main characters to life. This was live action, not animation, so I had to create my own new, modern version.”

The film has garnered both raves and criticism in Japan, but Thai film buffs are more apt to appreciate it because of the way Kitamura has adapted recognisable places and faces.

The original script was set in Egypt and Europe and involved the theft of Cleopatra’s necklace, but Kitamura’s experience fom “Hellgate” taught him that Thailand had a wealth of experienced crew and actors, so the setting shifted here. He said 85 per cent of “Lupin III” was shot in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, with other scenes done in Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Europe and Africa were a long way for the big Japanese stars to travel, he said, “so we started thinking about a pan-Asian collaboration. And it made more sense for us to set the story in Asia.

“The good thing about Thai crews is that they’re used to Hollywood productions because they’re always being shot here. They’ve worked on those films and Japanese films shot here, so they also know the languages. It’s almost impossible to find many English-speaking crewmembers in Japan. The Thais can adjust into the culture and the system. It was naturally fast, so we made Bangkok our headquarters and changed the script.”

What Japanese fans had no problem with in the movie was the presence of five Japanese superstars.

Shun Oguri plays Arsene Lupin III in a red velvet blazer, yellow tie and tight black slacks. Tetsuji Tamayama is Jigen, Lupin’s sharpshooting right-hand man. Jerry Yan portrays the more human-like bad boy Michael Lee. And sexy Meisa Kuroki is the “wonder woman”, Fujiko Mine.

Showing the idols how to act is the experienced Tadanobu Asano, who plays funny Inspector Zenigata undertaking a global hunt for the thief Lupin.

For the Thai cast, Kitamura had only to watch Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bangkok-set crime thriller “Only God Forgives” when it screened in LA. 

That film’s break-out star, the quietly menacing Vithaya Pansringarm, was given the role of Police Captain Narong, head of a squad assisting Inspector Zenigata. Another “Only God Forgives” cast member, Rhatha “Yayaying” Pho-ngam, is bad girl Miss V.

Other Thais in the cast are action star Sahajak Boonthanakit as a chief of security, veteran thespian Nirut Sirichanya as Pramuk, the crook who gets hold of the stolen necklace, and comedian Jaroenpron “Kotee Aramboy” Ornlamaias a computer nerd.

There’s a scene in the movie that’s not in the comic – a kendo sword fight between Zenigata and Narong. “Kitamura found out that I’m a kendo instructor and just added that scene!” Vithaya said with a laugh.

Spanish cinematographer Pedro J Marquez not only makes excellent use of the Thai locations, he makes them look even more fantastical.

The final fight sequence takes place in Chiang Mai’s Chiang Dao district, in a modern museum surrounded by forest. To add a Western flavour, the Gothic-baroque-style architecture of Assumption University’s Suvarnabhumi campus and the European-style building of the Territorial Defence Office in Dusit District were also used.

 

LUPIN ON THE RUN

“Lupin III” screens at 1.30pm on Saturday as part of Japanese Film Festival at Paragon Cineplex. It is already fully booked, but the film will have a general release in Thai cinemas on March 19.

The Japanese Film Festival runs until Sunday at Paragon and then from February 13 to 21 at Major Cineplex Central Festival Chiang Mai.

Among the highlights is a special Bangkok-only preview of “Hand in Glove” at 4pm on Saturday, featuring Thai and Japanese talent on both sides of the lens. There will be a talk afterward by director Yusuke Inaba and cinematographer Pairach Khumwan with cast members Chanon Rikulsarakan, Emiko Izawa and Selina Wisemann.

All films have English and Thai subtitles. Admission is Bt100. Find out more at www.JFBkk.or.th.