Toma's (yet another) new movie!!!

[tomakute.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you all have been aware of this, but Toma is gonna play a transgender role in a new movie released next Spring.
Here are the details:
➥ Title: 彼らが本気で編む時は (Kareraga honkide amutokokiwa)
The English title is not announced yet, but the literal translation is: "When they knit seriously".
➥ Date of release: Feb. 25, 2017
➥ Director: Ogigami Naoko (female director)
➥ Starring:
* Ikuta Toma(Rinko, Certified care woker, transgender)
* Kiritani Kenta(Makio, Rinko's lover, Tomo's uncle)
* Kakihara Rinka (Tomo, elementary school girl)
➥ Script: Ogigami Naoko
➥ Story: A girl (Tomo) abandoned by her mother one day visits her uncle (Makio). She finds out that her uncle is living with his lover, Rinko. Rinko is ex-male and a transgender. Her job is taking care of elderly people at a nursing centre. Rinko cooks for Tomo and cares for her as her biological mother. Gradually, they've become sort of an unconventional family.

Ogigami-san (director) decided to choose Ikuta Toma because of his beautiful face and his acting ability so far.

Toma's comment:
This is a unique story by Ogigami-san. It is cute, gentle and heart warming at the same time. I want to meet her expectations. She is a frank woman. She says things clearly so I can rely on her. In addition, I feel assured by Kiritani-san. He often praises me. He also encourages me, saying: " It's okay". He is a tolerant person like Makio, someone I want to rely on.

Now that the filming has started, I have realized that this role is very difficult. But it is rare to receive this kind if offer so I have been doing my best.

P.S. Toma plays a female role in this movie except for flashbacks.
There are scenes where Toma cooks and knits.



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My personal feelings and thoughts on this news:
- Toma as a girl is something I often visualize (sorry if this is disturbing, but it's true that sometimes you can see his girly gestures and expressions :))) I am glad he accepted this offer :D
- Is this the Japanese version of "The Danish Girl" or something? xD
- Can you believe Toma cooking and knitting? He is famous for being a lazy and gloomy couch potato at home, not being able to cook and do the housework. Can he really do this role? LOL. Just kidding, I know Toma is the kind of actor who wil put his all in the character he is playing, and by that I mean he will LEARN those skills seriously ^^
- We've all seen Toma x Kenta in "Osozaki no Himawari" and I actually think the chemistry between them is quite good. Kenta is very manly, no doubt about that :3 And didn't Toma himself confirm that he feels comfortable with Kiritani-san around? :X
- This is a super duper difficult role, but let's hope Toma will nail it. And in my expectation, he can even stand a chance of getting a nomination for the Japan Academy Prize if this movie works out well!

Comments

[pknumba1.livejournal.com]

Boy we're Toma fangirls to the core! After hearing the news, we both rush over here and post and type until our fingers bleed! Did you post before me? I can take mine down. :P

[nande-daiyo.livejournal.com]

thank you to both you and pknumba1 for getting the news out.

the news didn't come out till they already started filming. Naoko Ogigami seems like a really affluent film director and I'm glad Toma is working with her. To be honest I'm a little afraid that this movie will fall into place of a long line of movies that exploit the trans experience for 'groundbreaking' and 'difficult' and 'awardwinning' movies but give very little back to the trans community and trans actors.

I don't know how it is like in Japan so I don't want to assume too much but people do get made fun off on TV shows and I've seen trans celebrities like Haruna Ai and that other woman who appears a lot on VS Arashi and is from the same agency as Haruna Ai make some comments on the confusion of society.

In many ways, I wish Toma wasn't the actor who is part of this process because I don't want him to take possibly advantage of a minority group's suffering to further his career but in others I am excited to see how he will carry himself through interviews and promotions. I believe in him to be self aware and the director seems very legit!

[tbscreenrider.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the news. This sounds really interesting. A challenging role for Toma. But so far he mastered everything just great, so I am very confident that we are going to witness some more excellent acting!
Looking forward to that movie ^-^. Hopefully it will get subs.

[zolalupin.livejournal.com]

THIS.IS.AMAZING. i am SO proud of this boy, i just cannot express how much! toma is so amazing! i have never been more proud to be his fan! :D

[eunixe.livejournal.com]

This is interesting! :)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks so much for the news. I saw the articles last night (but in Japanese :/ )and was dying to understand .

So excited Toma is taking up a completely different role, and a very challenging one indeed. It is a good leap forward for him as an actor. Can't wait to watch!

[dis0414.livejournal.com]

My jaws dropped really hard!
I'm excited about this and I'm so happy for Toma.

[walnutunicorn.livejournal.com]

Haha, Toma as a girl is Karina. Karina är Toma look so alike. ^_^''

I'm very excited about this. It doesn't matter if it's a "japanese Danish girl", we need more of this kind of movies and dramas. ^^

[oink8.livejournal.com]

personally, i am excited to see the movie! i am excited for our baby doing things super new to him! i am also excited to see him and kenta together again! hahaha but since i am a die hard tomapi shipper, i am crying that yamapi was not chosen! haha i am still prayiiing for them to have a drama/movie/concert togetheeeer ; A ; ) but yeah, kenta-san would still fit the role just fine <3

[2bai.livejournal.com]

I'm glad he took his role, enjoy him playing in completely different role and challenging one. I hope Japanese ppl will open to this type of movie.

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU FOR THE NEWS, TOMAKUTE!!! ^^ i'm glad he's taking a role outside of his comfort zone and possibly a role that could make people more accepting of transgender people.

well, he already dressed up as a woman several times in the past and was a woman in that one play... but he actually has a male love interest this time. wow. kenta and toma got along so well of osawari, so i'm sure they'll have a lot of chemistry and be a convincing couple. hehe.