"The Tale of Genji" gets adapted to the screen with a ¥1 billion budget

by Chris MaGee

A quick search of IMDb reveals that the classic story of courtly love "The Tale of Genji" by Lady Murasaki has been adapted to the screen 10 times. The actual number of times that this 11th-century romance, billed as the first novel in literary history, has been adapted in Japan into a film or TV drama is probably triple that number... and now it looks like "The Take of Genji" will be adapted to the screen once again.

Tokyograph is reporting that television director Yasuo Tsuruhashi will be helming a mega-budget version of "Genji" with 26-year-old heartthrob singer and actor Toma Ikuta as Hikaru Genji, the male heartthrob and nobleman at the center of Lady Murasaki's story.

But how mega-budget will this new version of "Genji" be? Apparently a whopping ¥1 billion, or roughly $11,820,515.00 Canadian. No, that's not a huge sum for most Hollywood films at all, but in Japan that kind of budget for a film is rare. Here's expecting a costume drama on steroids when "Genji Monogatari" is released in Japanese theatres next year.