- Born
- Born in Kinko-cho, Asakuchi-gun (present-day Asakuchi City), Okayama Prefecture. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Dark Water (2002). Several of these were remade in English as The Ring (2002), Dark Water (2005), and The Ring Two (directed by himself).
Graduated from Kinko Gakuen High School and, in 1980, entered the Science Department of the University of Tokyo and graduated from the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts, although he had been offered a position in the Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering. While studying, he attended Shigehiko Hasumi's film seminar and was greatly influenced by his work. At his favorite bar during college, an acquaintance of Masato Hara, president of Herald Ace, introduced him to an assistant director from Masahiro Shinoda's team, and he began working as an assistant director on Shinoda's medium-length film "Allusion Reincarnation Tan" and corporate public relations films.
In 1985, he joined Nikkatsu Studios. Soon after, Hiroyuki Nasu, a senior at Tokyo University, decided to shoot Be-Bop High School at Toei, and because Nikkatsu Studios was used for studio shooting, two of the four assistant directors came out of Nikkatsu, including the first three Be-Bop High School films and Love Story for You. He worked as an assistant director on many Central Arts films and trained almost exclusively at Toei as an assistant director, making his directorial debut in 1992 with Curse, Death & Spirit
After which he moved to the UK. After returning to Japan, he made his directorial debut in 1996 with Don't Look Up. Subsequently, his film Ring (1998), an adaptation of Koji Suzuki's best-selling novel about the tragedy caused by a cursed video, was a huge success, and he became known as a leading figure in Japanese horror.
In 1998 he completed "Joseph Losey: The Man with Four Names," a documentary about Joseph Losey, which he began producing while in England.
After returning to Japan, he was told by Mitsuru Kurosawa, head of Central Arts, that he could direct a V-Cinema film, and in 1995 he directed "Diary of a Female Teacher: Forbidden Sex". He is now considered one of the representatives of J-horror (Japanese horror), along with Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Shimizu Takashi.
In 2003, he won the Art Encouragement Prize for New Talent for "The Last Scene".
"The Ring" was a remake in the United States by another director (Gore Verbinski), but he directed the sequel, "The Ring 2," making his long-awaited Hollywood debut. The discomfort he experienced during his stay in Hollywood was later compiled into the documentary film "An Introduction to Hollywood Director Studies. Also, "Dark Water" was a remake too.
In 2010, "Chatroom," directed in the UK, was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other films he has directed include "Dark Water" , "Sadistic and Masochistic", "Ghost Theather", "Sadako", "Death Note: L Change the World", "Stolen Identity", "The Woman Who Keeps a Murderer" and many more.- IMDb mini biography by: Mahou 5 star
- His films are often adapted, or influenced, by Koji Suzuki's novels.
- Studied journalism at the University of Tokyo.
- Never made another American film after directing The Ring Two (2005). He refused to do so after the studio interference he faced during the film's production.
- According to his official website, his 1996 theatrical debut film was a documentary called "Man With 4 Names," on Joseph Losey, Wisconsin-bred-British-based filmmaker who was a Communist Party member.
- Often directs literary adaptations of Koji Suzuki's novels, such as Ring (1998) and Dark Water (2002). Ring 2 (1999) was not based on his sequel novel Spiral, which was adapted into the failed sequel Rasen (1998), and functioned as a replacement sequel for that film. The Ring Two (2005) was also not based on the novel and, additionally, was not a remake of the Japanese version and had its own unique plot.
- Has a brother.
- [Children] are closer to the Other World than adults are. And they can be possessed by the supernatural specifically because they are close to that world.
- This may sound too simple but Asian ghosts can stand just behind you and can stare at you and doesn't say anything, just stands and stares at the main character. And that could be scary from our point of view... Whereas western movies, in general, westerns ghosts are an evil existence and are meant to do something to the victims, they attack the victims. So that is a difference that active feeling, the aggressiveness of the apparition in the western horror movies whereas in the Asian ones it's not. But of course there are exceptions like the Robert Wise film The Haunting or The Turn of the Screw, those movies the ghosts were just there. In fact with The Haunting there was no ghost whatsoever in the movie, so there are some exceptions.
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