Rieko Saibara's autobiographical manga "Mainichi Kaasan" is being turned into a live-action film. The film will star Kyoko Koizumi (44) and her former husband Masatoshi Nagase (43), playing the parts of Saibara and her husband. The manga follows the humorous everyday experiences of Saibara's own life with her two children.
The manga has been running in the Mainichi Shimbun paper every Sunday since 2002, and over 1.5 million copies of the six compiled volumes have been published so far. The manga already launched a television anime series last year, and Crunchyroll has been streaming the television anime under the name Kaasan - Mom's Life.
According to the film's distributor Shochiku, this is the first Japanese film in which a real divorced couple plays a married couple on screen. Koizumi and Nagase married in 1995 and divorced in 2004. Their last time acting together was in the 2002 drama series "Shiritsu Tantei Hama Mike." They both later appeared in the 2006 movie "Sakuran," but their parts were entirely separate.
A producer for the film said that Koizumi was chosen first to star as Saibara. But when it came time to cast Saibara's husband, Nagase's name instantly came up. Both Koizumi and Nagase were consulted on the desired casting, and although the two were surprised, they agreed to the arrangement.
Filming is slated to begin in August, and the movie will open in Japan early next year. According to the Sankei Sports newspaper, this is the first movie (in Japan) in which a real-life divorced couple stars as a fictional married couple. (The two stars did act in separate scenes in the 2006 live-action film adaptation of Moyoco Anno's Sakuran manga.)
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Mainichi Kaasan
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[Synopsis-TV Series]
Being a mom is never easy, especially when the arrival of spring results in your children drawing weather maps on the walls and leaving their ice cream to melt in your bed! For Rieko Kamohara this is just a part of her daily routine. While her drunken husband works as a travelling photographer and is often away from home, Rieko has to try and balance her job as a manga artist with looking after her two young children, Bunji and Fumi. From looming deadlines and her own mother nagging her about her duties as a housewife, to being hounded by a middle aged man dressed as a fairy who claims to be the spirit of early education, it’s amazing that super mum Rieko manages to keep her sanity intact at all!
