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Jack Black Wants to Star in Yakuza, Series Director Masayoshi Yokoyama Responds

Actor Jack Black told the American entertainment news outlet ScreenRant that he would love to have a role in a live-action adaptation of popular game series Like a Dragon (also known as Yakuza). “So I'm going to throw my hat in that ring," Black said to ScreenRant's Ash Crossan during an interview for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. "I don't know if there [are] any parts for me, like a portly American, but talk to me. Sega, give me a jingle."

Following the interview's publication, Like a Dragon producer, director, and writer Masayoshi Yokoyama responded to Black's comments on social media: "I can't think of a single role for him, but maybe I'll give him a call even though I don't know his contact info (lol)".

Black will reprise his role as Bowser in Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures' The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, on Wednesday. He also voiced a character in the Borderlands film and starred in A Minecraft Movie and the Jumanji sequels, although those films adapt a children's book about an fictional board game (that then inspired a real board game and one video game after another).

The Like a Dragon (Ryū ga Gotoku) series had a live-action film adaptation in 2007, stage play in 2015, Amazon Prime Video series in October 2024, and most recently, a live-action crossover project with Nihon Tōitsu in February.

Sega debuted the Like a Dragon game series created by Toshihiro Nagoshi in 2005 for PlayStation 2. The series was initially titled Yakuza in the West, but it has changed to Like a Dragon since 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The series has seen nine mainline games, including the prequel Yakuza 0 and its more recent iteration Yakuza 0: Director's Cut, and several spin-off games, such as the recent Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (Ryū ga Gotoku 8 Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii) game. Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Sega's remake of the Yakuza 3 game along with the new standalone Dark Ties title, launched as a single release on February 12.

Sources: ScreenRant, Masayoshi Yokoyama's X/Twitter account, Jack Black's X/Twitter account via Hachima Kikō