Keanu Reeves to Star in Dwarf Studios Stop-Motion Samurai Film Hidari
Japanese stop-motion studio dwarf announced at the Annecy Animation Showcase during the 79th Cannes International Film Festival that Keanu Reeves will voice the lead role of Jingoro Hidari in the feature-length stop-motion samurai film Hidari. The film is a 90-minute adaptation of a pilot that first streamed online in 2023 and has accumulated over 4.9 million views on YouTube. The pilot has won several international film festival awards. Director Masashi Kawamura, who also wrote the screenplay, said he wrote Reeves's name first on his dream casting list and referenced the John Wick series while creating the pilot and script. Iku Ogawa, known for Pokemon Concierge, is co-directing and co-designing characters with Takeshi Yashiro, who handles wood carving and art design. The film is produced by dwarf in collaboration with TECARAT, which creates the wooden puppets, and Kawamura's studio Whatever Co. The project is still raising funds and recruiting partners. A Kickstarter campaign has raised over 15.2 million yen from 1,419 backers. The film is expected to require about four years of production after receiving a green light, with a current target completion date of 2029.