Actor Keanu Reeves has been cast as the lead character for Masashi Kawamura’s HIDARI feature-length stop-motion samurai animated film. The film will be completed sometime in 2029 with an estimated 90-minute runtime.
Reeves will voice the animated film’s protagonist, Hidari Jingoro, who is described as “a man consumed by revenge yet unable to abandon his instinct to create.”
The announcement was made during a presentation at the Annecy Animation Showcase as part of the Marché du Film marketplace, which is being held in conjunction with the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Kawamura, who is credited as the film’s creator, writer, and co-director, was present at the event, along with producer Noriko Matsumoto.
HIDARI is based on Kawamura’s proof-of-concept short of the same name that debuted on YouTube on March 27, 2023. As of the time of writing, the stop-motion animated short has amassed a total of 4.9 million views.
The project is being co-developed by creative studio Whatever (which Kawamura co-founded), with dwarf studios handling the animation production and TECARAT in charge of the art production and wooden puppet designs. Iku Ogawa (Pokémon Concierge Seasons 1-2) is also credited as a co-director for the film on the Marché du Film website.
A Kickstarter campaign page for the project was launched in 2023 and would later reach its funding goal of 15,255,294 yen (US$96,064.87) from 1,419 backers.
The official website of HIDARI describes its main synopsis as:
The story is set in Japan during the Edo period, where real historical figures and events intertwine with original characters to tell the tale of one man’s revenge. Jingoro, a master craftsman of his time, is drawn into a conspiracy at the reconstruction site of Edo Castle, where he loses his mentor, the woman he loves, and even his own right arm.
Barely surviving the ordeal, Jingoro transforms himself into an instrument of vengeance. In place of his lost arm, he forges a prosthetic weapon. The tools once held in his hand to carve wood are reborn as weapons made to destroy. Accompanied by his companion, the Sleeping Cat, Jingoro sets out on a journey of revenge, only to find himself entangled in an even greater conspiracy.
Power struggles swirl within the shogunate. Mechanical soldiers close in. Edo Castle itself begins to transform. As everything around him threatens to consume him, something within Jingoro also begins to quietly change.
HIDARI is a story of revenge and rebirth, following a man whose life was devoted to creation, and who, after turning to destruction, must rediscover himself and the meaning of his own existence.
Sources: Deadline (Melanie Goodfellow), Official Website (2), press release (2)
