Takayuki Yamada heads up cast of zany comedy "Oarai ni mo Hoshi wa Furu Nari"

by Chris MaGee

While Takayuki Yamada has appeared in recent films like "MW" and "Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit" it seems like his bread and butter are still comedic or semi-comedic roles in big budget/ high profile films like "Train Man", "Kamogawa Horumo: Battle League in Kyoto", and "Crows Zero". He's good in those roles. His comic timing is great and he can easily transform from hunky leading man to goofy clown in a second. With that in mind it's no surprise that Yamada is heading up the cast of yet another high profile zany comedy.

"Oarai ni mo Hoshi wa Furu Nari", directed by Yuichi Fukuda and based upon his 2006 stage play, tells the story of seven men who are all obsessed with a beautiful young woman played by Erika Toda, who they refer to as their "madonna" in a nice nod to the female love interests in Yoji Yamada's long-running Tora-san films. Yamada's character is the goofiest of the lot, pathologically vain and quickly revealed a stalker. The rest of the male suitors are portrayed by Yusuke Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi Muro, Yu Koyanagi, Shunya Shiraishi, Jiro Sato, and Ken Yasuda.

"Oarai ni mo Hoshi wa Furu Nari" is due out in Japanese theatres in November, but the marketing machine is already in full gear with Nikkatsu setting up an official website, releasing galleries of stills and a teaser trailer which you can check out below. Thanks to Tokyograph for pointing us towards this story.