{"id":495552,"date":"2026-06-25T22:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/495552\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T22:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:13:20","slug":"keanu-reeves-voiced-stop-motion-animation-hidari-thrills-annecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/495552\/","title":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves-Voiced Stop-Motion Animation ‘Hidari’ Thrills Annecy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKeanu Reeves<\/a> thrilled fans at Annecy, sending a video message to confirm his participation in samurai stop-motion project \u201cHidari<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think that the stop-motion and what they\u2019ve done, their hope and ambition is very cinematic. It can be both big scale and very intimate, and with the script they have developed, I think it\u2019s extraordinary. I want to see that movie and I want to be in that movie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m very excited to move forward and have the opportunity to play the role, to be a part of it. It will be something very special to bring to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIts director, Masashi Kawamura, added: \u201cImagine \u2018John Wick<\/a>\u2019 set in feudal Japan and performed by wooden puppets on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story is inspired by the works of Japanese artist and legendary carpenter Hidari Jingoro, who allegedly lived in the 17th century.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNobody knows if he really existed or not. He\u2019s surrounded by a lot of mystery, which I felt was a very interesting character to use as the center of my story. People even said that he could breathe life into wood.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201cWhen I heard that, I thought: That\u2019s exactly what we do in stop-motion. We move inanimate objects and try to create life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKawamura decided to use wooden sculptures: \u201cExactly like the ones [Hidari Jingoro] actually crafted himself. The material and the technique become part of the story itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKawamura, who presented the project also during Annecy Animation Showcase in Cannes, spoke during Annecy panel \u201cFinding a Shared Vision: Co-Production with Japan,\u201d which also spotlighted \u201cA New Dawn\u201d<\/a> by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya and \u201cOn the Killing Road\u201d by Tomofumi\u00a0Inoue.<\/p>\n

\n\tEvery single frame is made by hand, he stressed. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of film we want to create. \u2018Hidari\u2019 is a samurai action film that blends the explosive energy of anime with the handcrafted aesthetic of stop-motion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his story of revenge, a young master carpenter is working on the reconstruction of the Edo Castle. But then he gets involved in a ruthless conspiracy and loses his mentor, fianc\u00e9e and also his right arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe survives and reinvents himself \u2013 and transforms all his carpentry skills and tools into weapons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe carves himself a lethal prosthetic arm and confronts an army of mechanical soldiers and, eventually, a robot who starts to destroy the city of Edo.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re going to do this all in stop-motion, guys. It\u2019s going to be crazy,\u201d said Kawamura, noting they will weave together \u201cactual history with fantasy elements to craft an entertaining story for all ages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnder all that spectacle, it\u2019s really about this one man trying to rediscover himself after turning to destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTreating the audience to an impressive teaser, which has already reached 5 million views on YouTube<\/a>, he underlined the team wanted to focus \u201con the material itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery grain, every hand-carved chisel marks on the wood. We really want to emphasize that in our film. We kind of coined \u2018Wood Punk\u2019 as the world we want to create.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe question we often get is: \u2018Why are you doing this in stop-motion?\u2019 Because we fucking love it! It\u2019s a fabulous technique, but unfortunately it\u2019s considered to be something maybe more nostalgic for a smaller audience. We, as a team, really wanted to shatter that perception and create something very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn a world where you could almost generate a film in three seconds using AI \u2013 if you don\u2019t give a shit about quality \u2013 we\u2019re doing something opposite. It\u2019s a whole film about craftsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a brief flirt with Hollywood \u2013 \u201cWe have received an offer, but then the landscape at the studio shifted dramatically and suddenly the project could no longer move forward,\u201d said producer Noriko Matsumoto (Nori Inc.) \u2013 they are now partnering up with Questry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving Reeves on board is a \u201cdream come true,\u201d she noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur character was actually designed as a hybrid between Keanu Reeves and Toshiro Mifune. He embodies the exact character we are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves thrilled fans at Annecy, sending a video message to confirm his participation in samurai stop-motion project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[246224,156,221107,12907,10691,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-495552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-annecy-animated-film-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-hidari","tag-john-wick","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}