Live-Action Kiki's Delivery Service's Teaser Video Streamed
Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web site posted a teaser video for the live-action film of Eiko Kadono's fantasy novel series Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no Takkyūbin). The video reveals the film will open on March 1, 2014.
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Click to viewFūka Koshiba (Iki mo Dekinai Natsu) plays the title witch girl Kiki in the film. 16-year-old actor Ryōhei Hirota performs the critical role of Kiki's friend Tombo. Co-starring with Koshiba and Hirota is Machiko Ono (Suzaku, Like Father, Like Son) as Osono, the owner of the bakery where Kiki works. Hiroshi Yamamoto plays Osono's baker husband Fukuo, and Miho Kanazawa plays a woman named Saki who visits the bakery. Rie Miyazawa (Oceans, Hana, Peony Pavilion) plays Kiki's mother Kokiri, and Michitaka Tsutsui (Reunion, Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta, Shikoku) plays Kiki's father Okino. Satoko Okudera (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Princess and the Pilot) is writing the script for the film.
Filming began on May 23 in a Tokyo studio, and it wrapped up in July.
The six novel volumes of Majo no Takkyūbin follow the coming of age of Kiki with her black cat Jiji. They have sold 1.8 million copies and have been translated into eight languages, including English, Italian, Chinese, Swedish, and Korean. Hayao Miyazaki directed Ghibli's famous anime film version, which adapted the first novel volume.
Annick Press published the first novel with an English translation by Lynne E. Riggs in 2003. That same year, Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney released Ghibli's film on DVD in North America.
ANN