Shun Oguri to star in HULU drama airing in US and Japan this Fall


Oguri Shun will be starring in the Hulu original drama series "Daishou" (Compensation) which consists of 6 episodes and will be shown in US and Japan at the same time. This marks Oguri's first entry into the overseas market and first drama to be screened via the Internet to which he commented that he's curious to see how the overseas audience will react to this Japanese production and pledged to work hard with his co-stars and staff to put up a good performance.

This drama series is based on the same-titled novel by Ioka Shun who won the 25th Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award and TV Tokyo Award in 2005 with his book "Itsuka, niji no mukou e". Oguri plays the role of Okuyama Keisuke, a lawyer who suffers from a serious obsessive-compulsive disorder due to his traumatic experience of abuse and betrayal suffered as a child. At that time, his parents were killed during a fire masterminded by his distant relative cum friend Ando Tatsuya. As a result, that led to him being taken in by Tatsuya's family and the beginning of suffering abuse by them. One day, he reunites with Tatsuya, the very person who had been responsible for his plight of losing his family and happiness, when he comes to engage Keisuke as his lawyer for a robbery and murder case. While wondering about Tatsuya's motive in coming to him, Keisuke is torn between taking revenge and fulfilling his duty as a lawyer and embarks on a risky venture to "bury" Tatsuya and stop him from harming society anymore. Although Oguri has played many types of roles to date, this is the first time that he will be playing an emotionally-weak man who is driven to the edge psychologically.

Oguri revealed that when he read the original, his first thought was that this character Keisuke would be very tough to play and confirmed his hunch when the filming actually started. Even outside the filming time, he tried not to think too much about his character but couldn't help it at times.

As for the actor to play the psychopath and Keisuke's childhood friend Tatsuya, it will be Takahashi Tsutomu who is a close friend of Oguri. With regard to their collaboration, Oguri said that Takahashi's presence helped him to concentrate more on the acting especially since he looked as scary as Tatsuya who manipulated others to commit crimes on his behalf and joked that he found Takahashi repulsive at times during the filming just like how Keisuke views Tatsuya,

Co-stars include Fuchikami Yasushi who plays Morota Hisahito, a journalist who is a friend of Keisuke and knew about Tatsuya since their junior high days, Kataoka Reiko who plays Tatsuya's stepmother, Hirata Mitsuru who plays Yoshida Hajime, the psychologist treating Keisuke and Ishibashi Ryo who plays Keisuke's boss. Other actors include Yanagi Erisa, Yanagi Shuntaro and Horibe Keisuke.

The producer Toishi Noriko commented that Oguri was chosen for his ability to take on any role and that given his height, good looks and low-toned voice, would be popular with overseas drama fans.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Oricon

Shun Oguri to return in "Borders" drama Special

Oguri Shun will be back in the drama SP sequel to TV Asahi Spring 2014 drama "BORDER" written by Naoki Award-winning writer Kaneshiro Kazuki which will be shown within 2017. The drama SP titled "BORDER 2 Shokuzai" (BORDER 2 Atonement) continues from the end of the drama series where Ishikawa Ango (Oguri) gets too caught up in his pursuit of justice that he pushes a criminal Ando Chikao (Omori Nao) over from the rooftop of a building. Although Ando is supposedly dead due to the fall, he appears suddenly behind Ishikawa and grabs his shoulder to welcome him to the other side of the world i.e. evil.

It was revealed that the drama's ending was actually not supposed to be the real ending to the story and that a sequel project was already in the works then. The drama SP will describe what happens to Ishikawa and Ando after that ending and the meaning of the sub-title "Shokuzai" will also be explained in the story.

Besides Oguri, the original cast members including Aoki Munetaka, Haru, Endo Kenichi, Furuta Arata, Takito Kenichi, Nomaguchi Toru and Hamano Kenta and guest star Omori will be back in the drama SP.

To commemorate the drama SP's launch, the drama series will be shown for free via on-demand services TV Asahi Catch-up, TVer and GYAO! from 14 June at 5am to 18 June at 11.59pm. By typing the search keyword BORDER on Yahoo! JAPAN, there will be a special video available for viewing which describes Ishikawa's journey so far and some parts from the sequel. Information about the sequel will also be released via its official Instagram and Twitter pages gradually.

Sources: Sanspo / My Navi News / Oricon / The Television

I was in the camp of "Nooooo, I don't want a sequel!" and then slowly, I'm now accepting fate and just hoping it'll continue where it left off in the same vein. Fingers crossed big time!
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Shun Oguri added to cast of 'Godzilla vs. Kong'

Japanese actor Shun Oguri (Crows Zero) has become the latest addition to the cast of Legendary Pictures’ kaiju crossover Godzilla vs. Kong, with the film set to mark his Hollywood debut.

The film – the fourth instalment in Legendary’s shared MonsterVerse franchise after Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island and the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters – is being directed by Adam Wingard (Blair Witch).

Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Kyle Chandler (Bloodline) and Ziyi Zhang (The Cloverfield Paradox) are all set to reprise their roles from next year’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while other additions to the cast include Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2), Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), Demian Bichir (The Hateful Eight), Rebecca Hall (Holmes and Watson), Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist) and Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver).

Godzilla vs. Kong is set for release on May 22nd 2020, while Godzilla: King of the Monsters opens on May 31st 2019.

Of course, they're assuming World War III won't have happened before 2022:

Shun Oguri cast in lead for 2022 taiga

The 61st NHK Taiga Drama set to air in 2022 has been confirmed to be 'Kamakura-dono no 13-nin.' It will star actor Shun Oguri, and the script will be written by Koki Mitani.

Oguri will take on the lead role of 'Hojo Yoshitoki,' the younger brother of Hojo Masako, who was married to Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate. The drama will focus on the 13 people who supported Yoritomo's rule.

Source: natalie