Nationality Japanese Role Playwright | Name Koki Mitani | |
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Occupation Playwright, screenwriter, actor, film director Awards Japan Academy Prize for Screenplay of the Year Nominations Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year Movies The Kiyosu Conference, A Ghost of a Chance, The Magic Hour, The Uchoten Hotel, Welcome Back - Mr McDonald Similar People Profiles | ||
How to Pronounce Kôki Mitani
Kōki Mitani (三谷 幸喜, Mitani Kōki, born July 8, 1961) is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after Taihō Kōki, the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon University.
Contents
- How to Pronounce Kki Mitani
- Early life
- Career
- Feature films and TV dramas
- Theatre works
- Puppetries
- References
In an attempt to add his own character to his movies, as a director he takes most of his scenes with a one-scene=one-shot system, moving the camera around as opposed to cutting. He claims this comes from his experience in theatre, where there are of course, no cuts. Mitani does not use a computer.
Early life
Mitani liked watching TV dramas and puppetries of NHK in his childhood. Especially he was interested in the puppetries "Shin Hakkenden"(新八犬伝) and "Sangokushi"(三国志), jidaigekis as "Tenka Gomen" (天下御免) and "Tenka Dōdō" (天下堂々) and Taiga Dramas "Ōgon no hibi"(黄金の日々).
He also liked and still likes the works featuring famous detectives includes the Series of Sherlock Holmes and adored Holmes as detective. He has whole volume of novels including pastiches, DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes and read all the novels again before adapting it to a puppetry whose setting is laid in a boarding school. And in his high school days, he planned to produce a film featuring a detective, loosely based on "And Then There Were None" and went on location to Enoshima, Kanagawa with his friends though it's unfinished.
Besides he watched many foreign films such as the ones directed by Billy Wilder, "12 Angry Men" and "The Wages of Fear" on TV. He says that he was influenced by them but recent Hollywood comedy films are not as funny as those in the golden age and Japanese comedy becomes better. He is a big fan of "Columbo" also.
Career
His works are basically comedies full of wit and humour and with parody. He usually writes a script visualising the actors and actresses close to the characters.
He writes a weekly column for the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper, in which he often discusses his favorite films, his writing process, and the actors and actresses that he has worked with.
Feature films and TV dramas
(Note: Many of Mitani's films began as successful plays.)