Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sakura Ando Board Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s ‘Monster’ – Deadline

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and award-winning actress Sakura Ando have boarded Monster, the new film from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda.

Produced by Genki Kawamura and Kenji Yamada, the film is currently in post-production and is being lined up for theatrical release in Japan on June 2, 2023. Production partners on the film include Toho, Gaga Films, Fuji Television Network, AOI Pro and Bun-Buku. 

The film also stars Nagayama Eita, Takahata Mitsuki, Kakuta Akihiro, Nakamura Shido and Tanaka Yuko. Gaga announced that child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinataare Hiiragi have also joined the cast following auditions. 

Sakamoto’s credits include composing the music for films including Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence (1983), The Sheltering Sky (1990) and The Revenant (2015). He was also the first Japanese winner of Best Original Score at the Oscars with The Last Emperor in 1987. 

Monster will mark the first time Sakamoto has collaborated with Kore-eda, one of Japan’s best-known directors, whose Korean-language Broker premiered at Cannes last year and won best actor for Song Kang-ho’s performance.

Ando previously starred in Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, which won the Cannes film festival Palme d’Or in 2018 and was nominated in the Best International Feature category of the Oscars and BAFTAs. 

Monster is scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made A Beautiful Bouquet) but the story of the film is being kept tightly under wraps. 

Kore-eda and Kawamura also recently worked together on a series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, which starts streaming next week.