Ken Watanabe reunites with Christopher Nolan for the sci-fi film "Inception"

by Chris MaGee

For our March top ten list we featured Japanese actors who had crossed over and found great success in non-Japanese films. Of course we couldn't have completed the list without one of Japan's most famous crossover successes, Ken Watanabe, (he was number 3), and this morning Nippon Cinema has yet another example of Watanabe being embraced by international audience and filmmakers.

The 49-year-old star of such films as "The Last Samurai" and "Letters to Iwo Jima" will reunite with director Christopher Nolan for the sci-fi film "Inception". Watanabe worked with Nolan in 2005, starring in the British director's superhero reboot "Batman Begins" as the evil mastermind, Ra's al Ghul (above). This time around Watanabe will be playing another villain in the vaguely described film that will take place "within the architecture of the mind”. Watanabe's co-stars on the project include such Hollywood heavy hitters as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine. No firm release dates have yet been announced for "Inception".