Dean Fujioka to direct, star in movie about Lindsay Hawker murder
The Sports Hochi newspaper reports that the high-profile murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker in 2007 is going to be the subject of a movie coming out next year. Japanese-born actor Dean Fujioka, who is active in Hong Kong and Taiwan, will take on the lead role and will serve as director. This will be Fujioka’s directorial debut.
Hawker was a 22-year-old woman from England who was working in Japan as a teacher with the English conversation school Nova. She was reported missing in March 2007, and her naked body was later found in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of Ichihashi Tatsuya, a man she had met a few days earlier.
Ichihashi managed to escape police and was on the National Police Agency’s wanted list for more than two years before he was finally captured in November 2009. In July 2011, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Hawker.
The movie is an account of Ichihashi’s life during his time as a fugitive. Titled “I am Ichihashi ~Taihou Sareru Made~,” the film is based on Ichihashi’s book “Taihou Sareru Made” (“Until I Was Arrested”), which was published in January 2011 before his case went to trial.
The film is being produced by Nakazawa Toshiaki, a producer for Sedic International who worked on the Academy Award-winning “Okuribito.” Fujioka was chosen to direct and star in the movie, even though he has no directorial experience nor an acting career in Japan. He is best known for appearing in the Taiwanese dramas “Miss No Good” and “Corner With Love,” as well as movies such as “Summer’s Tail” and the upcoming “The Road Less Traveled.”
Filming is planned to start in January 2012. A release date has not yet been set, but it is expected to be released sometime in 2012.
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