Tran Anh Hung's "Norwegian Wood" licenses use of original Beatles song

by Chris MaGee

We've been following production on French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung's screen adaptation of Haruki Murakami's 1987 novel "Norwegian Wood" for exactly two years now (you can read our full coverage here). Throughout that time there has definitely been some big news to report on this - the casting of stars Ken'ichi Matsuyama and Rinko Kikuchi for one, and the soundtrack that will be scored by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood for another. Now the really big news is that producers of the film have managed to actually license The Beatles original 1965 song "Norwegian Wood" from which Murakami took the name of his story of a love triangle in 1960's Tokyo. Negotiations with Apple Music and Sony were apparently lengthy but it was Hung's insistence that the song be included in his film that made all the difference.

"Norwegian Wood" is set for a theatrical release in Japan on December 11th, no doubt after hitting a few spots on the festival circuit first. Thanks to Japan Zone for this exciting piece of news.