Following the latest Godzilla Minus One trailer, Toho lifted the cast embargo on the upcoming movie and held a press conference with the stars. Regarding the cast, director Takashi Yamazaki stated, "it's important for the actors to be good enough to make the audience feel scared." The following will have to survive Godzilla's wrath in the late 1940s:
Ryunosuke Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima -
Shikishima lost his parents during the war. When he comes home to a devastated Japan, he is introduced to a new nightmare.
Kamiki has made a name for himself voicing various Studio Ghibli characters and voiced the main character in director Makoto Shinkai's blockbuster, Your name. He played Seta Sojiro in the recent, live action Ruroni Kenshin films and the main character in director Takashi Miike's The Great Yokai War (2005). He also worked with Hideaki Anno, playing the adult Shinji Ikari in Shin Evangelion (2021). Kamiki is nicknamed the "100 Billion Yen Man," as his name has been attached to seven of the top ten highest grossing Japanese films of all time. Will Godzilla Minus One be #8?
Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi
Oishi is billed as a strong woman, living alone in war-torn Japan when she meets Shikishima on the way home from the war.
Hamabe is no stranger tokusatsu-based franchises. This year alone, she will have stared in both Godzilla Minus One and Hideaki Anno's Shin Kamen Rider as Ruriko Midorikawa. Hamabe won the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2018. This is her second collaboration with Takashi Yamazake, having previously worked with the director in 2019's The Great War of Archimedes.
Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima
Yamada is a popular Japanese actor having played the "Blue Ranger" in the 35th Super Sentai anniversary series, Gokaiger. He recently stared in Tokyo Revengers (2021), which went on to become the #1 highest grossing live action Japanese film of the year.
Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana
After his debut in Battle Royal II (2003), Aoki went on to have a full career of varied titles he was part of. He's best known for playing Sagara Sanosuke in all four, live action, Ruroni Kenshin films.
Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda
A Japanese Academy Award Winning actor, Yoshioka is best known for his work in director Yamazaki's Always: Sunset on Third Street trilogy. He also worked with the legendary Akira Kurosawa in Rhapsody in August (1991) and Madadayo (1993).
Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ota
A three time Japanese Academy Award winning actress, Ota has been praised for her lead performance in Shoplifters (2018) and showered with nearly twenty prestigious film festival and cinema awards throughout her career. She recently worked with director Takashi Miike in The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021).
Kuranosuke Sasaki as Yoji Akitsu
Best known for his television dramas, Sasaki has proven versatility, having won a Japanese Academy Award for his lead role in the 2015 comedy, Samurai Hustle.
Original Score by Naoki Sato
Japanese Academy Award winning composer Naoki Sato has been Yamazaki's primary composer throughout most his career. Sato is no stranger to Godzilla, having reworked Akira Ifukube's legendary Godzilla theme in 2007's Always: Sunset on Third Street 2. He was nominated again for his work in The Eternal Zero (2013) and also composed music for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Director of Photography - Kozo Shibasaki
Shibasaki's relationship with Yamazaki goes as far back as his earliest movie, Juvinile (2000), to his most recent work, Ghost Book (2022). A three time Japanese Academy Award winning cinematographer, Shibasaki returns to bring the post-war/Showa era look he photographed in the Always: Sunset on Third Street trilogy to Godzilla Minus One.
The poster has now been updated to reflect the cast and crew of the upcoming film:
Set in a post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One will once again show us a Godzilla that is a terrifying and overwhelming force. Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country from nothing (zero) into the ‘minus.’
Godzilla Minus One is directed by Takashi Yamazaki. An award winning filmmaker and avid Godzilla fan, his work on Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005) earned him two Japanese Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Screenwriter. He was honored with another Best Director and Best Screenplay nomination for the sequel, Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007). In 2016, he won the Best Director category again for The Eternal Zero. Yamazaki also helmed highly acclaimed actioners, Returner, Space Battleship Yamato and many others.
He gave Godzilla a cameo during an opening dream sequence in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2. In 2021 he returned to Godzilla and directed footage for Seibuen Amusement Park's Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monster Battle Summit.
Godzilla Minus One opens in Japan on November 3rd, 2023, Godzilla Day.
It opens in the United States on December 1st, 2023.
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Source:
Livedoor News
Official Toho Twitter
Godzilla Official Twitter
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