{"id":139780,"date":"2025-04-23T06:44:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T06:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/bullet-train-explosion-director-shinji-higuchi-talks-casting-singer-actor-tsuyoshi-kusanagi-the-netflix-films-moral-questions\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T06:44:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T06:44:55","slug":"bullet-train-explosion-director-shinji-higuchi-talks-casting-singer-actor-tsuyoshi-kusanagi-the-netflix-films-moral-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/bullet-train-explosion-director-shinji-higuchi-talks-casting-singer-actor-tsuyoshi-kusanagi-the-netflix-films-moral-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Bullet Train Explosion&#8217; Director Shinji Higuchi Talks Casting Singer-Actor Tsuyoshi Kusanagi &#038; The Netflix Film&#8217;s Moral Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tDirected by veteran filmmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/shinji-higuchi\/\" id=\"auto-tag_shinji-higuchi\" data-tag=\"shinji-higuchi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shinji Higuchi<\/a> and starring singer-actor <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/tsuyoshi-kusanagi\/\" id=\"auto-tag_tsuyoshi-kusanagi\" data-tag=\"tsuyoshi-kusanagi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tsuyoshi Kusanagi<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/bullet-train-explosion\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bullet-train-explosion\" data-tag=\"bullet-train-explosion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bullet Train Explosion<\/a><\/em> is the most recent energetic, highly-charged tentpole title on <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/netflix\/\" id=\"auto-tag_netflix\" data-tag=\"netflix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Netflix<\/a>\u2018s Japanese slate. Higuchi has made a few of <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/japan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_japan\" data-tag=\"japan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Japan<\/a>\u2018s greatest blockbusters, together with <em>Shin Godzilla<\/em>, <em>Shin Ultraman<\/em> and <em>Attack on Titan<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<em>Bullet Train Explosion<\/em> follows a \u2018shinkansen\u2019 (bullet practice) certain for Tokyo, which quickly comes underneath a bomb risk. The bombs on the practice will explode if the practice slows beneath 100 kph, leaving the passengers and crew in peril. The movie is a reboot of the unique 1975 film <em>The Bullet Train<\/em>, which impressed the Hollywood blockbuster <em>Speed<\/em> \u2014 with the latter starring Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, and Sandra Bullock.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAmid the high-octane, action-filled sequences, Higuchi\u2019s movie additionally gives up a number of ethical questions on life\u2019s dignity and price. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cWhen we make a film, we can do many things,\u201d Higuchi tells Deadline. \u201cWe\u2019re like God \u2014 we can control the life of the characters and their fate. We can make them die, we can make them live. While these characters may not actually exist in real life, having their fate in our hands, we have a responsibility of making those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThese strains of philosophical questioning come from a deeply private place for Higuchi, who went by way of a turbulent time throughout adolescence. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cI do think a lot about how these people in the film go through and learn to survive at the end of the day. Because  when I was a teenager, I hated this world,\u201d says Higuchi. \u201cBut I was interested in living ahead, like I was looking at the future. Maybe even though the situation might be my worst point, I thought about how in a few years, I\u2019ll be grown up and life might be better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAfter highschool, Higuchi ended up working in public service, with Japan\u2019s put up providers, however knew deep down that his calling was within the artistic world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cAt my school, they didn\u2019t really allow you to go on a creative path. When you looked at the graduates and alumni, there was this graph chart, and there was no one going into the creative business. Everybody would move on and go to university. I just gave up on those academic paths myself and decided that I would go into public service,\u201d says Higuchi. \u201cI took the public service test, but I felt that my future was not there. That was the first time I asked myself, \u2018what is it that I want to do? The answer was, basically, to go into films.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tGrowing up, Higuchi was closely impressed by<em> Ultraman <\/em>and <em>Godzilla <\/em>creator Eiji Tsuburaya, in addition to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tReading how Spielberg made <em>Jaws <\/em>whereas in his twenties, Higuchi was impressed and wished to do the identical.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cI read the news and it was very shocking to know that in America, you can make a film in your twenties,\u201d provides Higuchi. \u201cSo when I was in my 20s, I was quite cocky, in a way. The American films from the 1970s still have a big impact on me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tHiguchi says that he has wished to make <em>Bullet Train Explosion<\/em> for practically 20 years. Besides Kusanagi, the movie additionally stars Kanata Hosoda, Non, Jun Kaname and Machiko Ono.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tCasting Kusanagi in <em>Bullet Train Explosion<\/em> \u2014 a former member of SMAP, one among Japan\u2019s hottest boybands from the late Nineteen Eighties to the early 2000s \u2014 took practically 20 years, partially because of points with Higuchi\u2019s former administration company. It was solely when Netflix arrived within the Japanese content material scene, that making the movie turned an actual risk for Higuchi. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cWhen you\u2019re making film in Japan, there are limitations and rules that you have to follow,\u201d says Higuchi. \u201cAfter Tsuyoshi left his previous company administration firm, we had been in a position to get him, as a result of his previous administration was very highly effective and had plenty of affect on the leisure business. Tsuyoshi had rebelled towards the boss of the leisure enterprise and left the corporate not on good phrases. What occurred was that plenty of the manufacturing corporations in Japan had been afraid that they may offend the boss by casting him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThose who could hire and cast him were only the independent films, who had a lot of freedom and a good vibe,\u201d provides Higuchi. \u201cThen Netflix came around and compared to the TV stations and the film industry which have been in Japan forever, Netflix was able to do something that they weren\u2019t able to do. Netflix was kind of able to leap over that big political game that we had here in the entertainment business. So although we\u2019re not an independent film, we were able to cast him in this big-budget film because it was Netflix.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tLooking forward, Higuchi desires to deal with making movies primarily based on unique screenplays, however acknowledges that it isn&#8217;t straightforward to get such tasks funded, in comparison with diversifications of IP that audiences are already aware of. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s very challenging about making films here in Japan is not just funding and production companies, but the audiences too, who want something reassuring, something that they know is going to be good,\u201d says Higuchi. \u201cI really want to create an original story, but to be honest, a lot of the things I want to make are going to be high-budget. You need to convince the people who have the money that this is worth the money and investment, and I haven\u2019t been able to do that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cI just hope that there will be an environment and ecosystem \u2014 or even becoming that person myself \u2014 that would enable me to make that dream film, because there are only a handful of creators, maybe five, who are able to do that in Japan and stay true to their creative visions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tHiguchi factors out that he has noticed that writers transitioning from the theater scene in Japan, to the movie business, are sometimes in a position to pull the cash from buyers for giant finances films.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThe writers who come from theater into films, when they write the script, they really make the actors shine,\u201d provides Higuchi. \u201cWhen you ask them, \u2018what is the story?\u2019, they always talk about the character instead of the story. Characters are usually the main impression and takeaways of these films \u2014 maybe that might be the appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Directed by veteran filmmaker Shinji Higuchi and starring singer-actor Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Bullet Train Explosion is the most recent energetic, highly-charged tentpole title on Netflix\u2018s Japanese slate. Higuchi has made a few of Japan\u2018s greatest blockbusters, together with Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman and Attack on Titan. Bullet Train Explosion follows a \u2018shinkansen\u2019 (bullet practice) certain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6774,888,79,7862,2482,9532,9535,9536,115,2608,9531,9533,268,1803,9534],"class_list":{"0":"post-139780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood","8":"tag-bullet","9":"tag-casting","10":"tag-director","11":"tag-explosion","12":"tag-films","13":"tag-higuchi","14":"tag-kusanagi","15":"tag-moral","16":"tag-netflix","17":"tag-questions","18":"tag-shinji","19":"tag-singeractor","20":"tag-talks","21":"tag-train","22":"tag-tsuyoshi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}