Miike says blame game freed him to make Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo for TIFF premiere
Takashi Miike says he made Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo freely by putting the responsibility on the makers of the film that came before it.
Speaking through a translator in Deadline's Toronto Studio, the Japanese director said it is quite difficult in Japan to make sensational films like this one, according to Deadline. He said he could work without restraint by treating the idea as coming from the original film. Short version: he blamed the original.
The new film runs 1 hour 48 minutes and centres on a gambling-addicted Tokyo police officer and an FBI agent searching for a missing politician's daughter while a mysterious killer watches them, as described by Deadline. It is directed by Miike from a script by Daisuke Tengan. It stars Shun Oguri, Lily James and Shotaro Mamiya, with Miike and the three actors appearing together for the festival studio panel, according to Deadline.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to TIFF. It was selected for Special Presentations, the festival's showcase strand for high-profile new work. That slot puts it among the titles Toronto presents as talking points for the autumn season.
The first screening was on Monday 14 September at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, which Deadline listed as the premiere venue. TIFF's listings gave the start time as 8:30 PM. Miike took to the stage at that world premiere, according to Deadline.
The production is listed as a United States, United Kingdom and Japan co-production, meaning companies from the three countries share the production. Neon, the company handling the cinema release in the United States, is the U.S. distributor, according to Deadline. For audiences outside the trade, that credit decides who gets the film into American cinemas and when.
What makes this stand out for festival watchers is the history behind it. Tengan previously wrote Miike's 13 Assassins, which played at TIFF in 2010, according to TIFF. Sixteen years on, the writer and director have returned to the same festival with a Tokyo crime story built around a cop in freefall, a visiting American agent and a family with power to lose.
