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Death Note's Matsuyama to Star in Detroit Metal City (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
The official website for Ken'ichi Matsuyama, the actor best known for playing the genius detective L in the Death Note movies and Shinichi in NANA, has announced on November 15 that he will next play a death metal singer in the movie adaptation of Kiminori Wakasugi's Detroit Metal City manga.
Matsuyama will play Sōichi Negishi, a young man who dreams of becoming a stylish pop idol, but ends up donning Kiss-inspired black-and-white face paint and the stage name Johannes Krauser II instead. Amazingly, his Detroit Metal City band does rise to fame and glory in this rockumentary parody.
The three volumes of the Detroit Metal City manga have sold over 1.3 million copies in Japan, and a fourth volume will ship on November 29. Singer Kaela Kimura, actress Masami Nagasawa (Socrates in Love), and the real-life hard rock band B'z (Detective Conan themes) are self-proclaimed fans of the manga. There are plans to have real-life musicians make cameos in the movie.
Hakusensha's Young Animal first announced the movie project in issue 22 (on sale November 9). Over ten companies reportedly competed to land the feature film rights. Television drama scriptwriter and movie director Mika Ōmori is writing the script. Director Toshio Lee will start shooting the movie in February, and TOHO plans to open the film next summer. Matsuyama had previously played a bassist in NANA and a pianist in the Shindō film, but he nevertheless began taking guitar classes earlier this month. He is already shooting a live-action version of The Legend of Kamui ninja manga between this month and February for a 2009 release.
Source: Sankei Sports, Sports Hochi
Update: Scriptwriter added.
