Jeremy Thomas and Shozo Ichiyama
Oscar-winning auteur and film producer Jeremy Thomas has participated in a webinar alongside film producer and new head of programming for the Tokyo Film Festival, Shozo Ichiyama, where they discussed about the cultural influences surrounding Japanese cinema and what drew him to work with Japanese directors and actors, exploring creative approaches to scripted projects that break through with international audiences.
Jeremy Thomas' love of Asian cinema has translated into producing films with directorial giants Nagisa Oshima, Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike, the latter of whom he is currently working with. He produced the classic Japanese-British film “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” (1983) with Nagisa Ōshima. "I knew a lot about Japanese cinema by then and this love for Japanese cinema continues till today", confessed Thomas.
The film is based on Sir Laurens van der Posts' books "The Seed and the Sower" and "The Night of the New Moon" and starred by European and Japanese actors such as David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takeshi Kitano. "Oshima understood that he needed a Western point of view on it and he was very happy about the collaboration I gave him in the development of the script, the carrigement and the casting, getting Davie Bowie", Thomas explained.
Another Japanese-British film produced by Jeremy Thomas was "Brother" (2000) alongside Shôzô Ichiyama and with Takeshi Kitano as director. The film is about a Japanese Yakuza gangster who is exiled to the United States. Takeshi settles in Los Angeles where his younger, half brother lives and finds that although the turf is new, the rules are still the same as they try to take over the local drug trade.
Thomas has also produced four films with Takashi Miike, including "13 Assassins" (2010). It is a remake of the 1963 Japanese black and white film by Eiichi Kudo, "13 Killers". Loosely based on historical events, the film is set in the year 1844 towards the end of the medieval Edo period. In the story, a group of thirteen assassins, consisting of twelve samurai and a hunter, secretly conspire to assassinate the bloodthirsty leader of the Akashi clan, Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, prior to his appointment to the powerful Shogunate Council.
The virtual session was hosted by the Daiwa Foundation as part of a wider joint initiative between the Producers’ Alliance in Cinema and Television, Film and TV PR agency Percy & Warren and executive producer Katherine Parsons.