Hoga News

Rinko Kikuchi's new film will open on 6/23

Academy nominee Rinko Kikuchi worked on this Satoshi Miki's comedy "The Insects Unlisted in The Encyclopedia" right after the Oscar presentation, and it is announced that the film will open in Japan on June 23.

Miki is known for his so-called "datsuryoku-kei (low tention)" comedy films such as "In the Pool" and "Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (literally "turtles swim faster than you expect").  In this new film, a magazine reporter played by Yusuke Isetani ("What the Snow Brings", "Memories of Matsuko") and his partner Suzuki Matsuo go traveling in search of "quasi-dead", in order to write an article on the world after death.  They meet a mysterious woman played by Rinko on the way. 

See some still photos here.  They REALLY look low tention to me..

Source:  CinemaCafe

Rinko Kikuchi's love revealed!

Japanese photo gossip magazine Friday reports that Rinko Kikuchi, this year's Oscar nominee in Supporting Actress category for "Babel", lives with an Argentine-born handsome actor Aletta Federico (Photo on the left) in a hip Tokyo apartment.

Federico's office admitted that they have been together for more than a year.  They got to know each other in a TV drama work while Rinko still was under the rader.

Federico is quad-lingual in Japanese, Spanish, English and Italian.  According to IMDb, he made an appearance in Seijun Suzuki's whacky kimono operetta "Princess Raccoon", starring Zhang Ziyi and Joe Odagiri, as a Nanbanjin (=Portuguese or Spaniard in 16th century Japan) painter.

Source:  SANSPO, IMDb

Rinko Kikuchi welcome by 550+ press members

Oscar nominee "Babel" press conference was held in Tokyo on March 7.  Rinko Kikuchi, who was totally unknown until she was nominated in Oscar Supporting Actress, came home to meet 550+ press members, almost at the scale of Hollywood big name star press conference.  Director Alejandro Inarittu, other Japanese cast Koji Yakusho and Satoru Nikaido also appeared in the event.  See a photo here.

When asked who she wants to work with in the future, she counted, "well, Gina Rolands, Daniel Day Lewis, Sean Penn...", all Western stars.

Back home, she was busy finishing up the filming of comedy "Zukan ni Nottenai Mushi", which she was absent from the previously scheduled work due to Oscar presentation event, as well as other works such as voice overs and CM shooting.  She is schedule to fly to Europe for the next project "The Brothers Bloom" towards the end of this month.

Source:  Daily Sports

Shinobu Terajima is married to a French art director

Shinobu Terajima, star of "Love Never to End" and "It's Only Talk", announces that she is officially married to Lorand Ghnassia, a French creative art director living in Japan, as of February 26.

According to the reports, they started dating in 2005.  It is the first marriage for Terajima, and the second time for Ghnassia, who has one daughter with his ex-wife.  Terajima dated with kabuki/movie actor Somegoro Ichikawa ("Semishigure") before, but they broke up in 2003.

Terajima herself is a daughter of a kabuki actor Kikugoro Onoe and actress Sumiko Fuji ("Hula Girls"), and it is a very rare case of international marrage in kabuki families.

Source:  Sponichi Anex

Rinko Kikuchi's next films

Variety reports that Rinko Kikuchi will join up Rachel Weisz and Adrien Brody in their next film "The Brothers Bloom" directed by Rian Johnson.

See Variety article.

Before that, she will be in a Japanese comedy "Zukan ni Notte Inai Mushi" (literally "Bug that is not on encycｌopedia"), directed by Satoshi Miki and is scheduled to open in June this year.  Other cast members include Yusuke Iseya, Suzuki Matsuo and Miki Mizuno, and the filming is mostly done, with a small portion to be filmed after Kikuchi comes back home after the Oscar presentation.

Source:  Hochi

Rinko Kikuchi interview on Hoga Central

To celebrate her Oscar nomination, I just put up Rinko Kikuchi's interview article on Hoga Central.

I know there is already a great in-depth interview article on Midnight Eye (probably from the same press event), but I had to do my own version for a personal reason, so here it is.  Some additional links, photos and filmography are shown as well.

Please see Hoga Central Rinko Kikuchi Interview.

Rinko Kikuchi nominated in Oscars

Rinko Kikuchi was nominated in Supporting Actress category in Academy Awards, as expected.  "Letters from Iwo Jima" starring Ken Watanabe was also nominated in 4 categories, including the Best Picture.

See Oscar's website for full list of nominees.

Rinko Kikuchi gets SAG nomination

Rinko Kikuchi gets nomination for best supporting actress category of Screen Actors Guild.

See Japan Times for more details.

Rinko Kikuchi nominted in Golden Globe

Again, Rinko Kikuchi is nominated in supporting actress category in Golden Globe Award for "Babel".  "Letters from Iwo Jima" made it to the foreign language film category, along with Clint Eastwood in best director.

See HFPA website for the complete list of nominees.

Rinko Kikuchi nominated for BFCA

Rinko Kikuchi, a Japanese actress who recently won NBR Breakthrough Actress, is nominated in supporting actress category by Broadcast Film Critics Association.  The award presentation is scheduled on January 12, 2007.

Source:  The Envelope.com, SANSPO