A FILM BY TAKESHI KITANO OUTRAGE BEYOND A BANDAI VISUAL, TV TOKYO OMNIBUS JAPAN, WANER BROS PICTURES JAPAN and OFFICE KITANO Production A FILM BY TAKESHI KITANO OUTRAGEWORLD SALES INTERNATIONAL PRESS BEYONDJAPAN - 2012 - 112MIN - COLOR - CINEMASCOPE - DOLBY SRD/SR RICHARD LORMAND - FILM PRESS PLUS Celluloid Dreams www.FilmPressPlus.com 2 rue Turgot Paris F 75009 [email protected] T : + 33 1 4970 0370 T: +33-9-7044-9865 (France) F : + 33 1 4970 0371 IN VENICE: +39-347-256-4143 [email protected] www.celluloid-dreams.com The huge Sanno crime family has grown into a huge organization, expanding its power into politics and legitimate big business. The Sanno’s upper ranks are now dominated by young executives who promote black-marketeering rather than the traditional underground income sources. The old-guard members are penting up resentment as they see themselves being pushed to the sidelines. This vulnerable spot in the Sanno hierachy is exactly what anti-gang detective Kataoka has been looking for, as the police force prepares a full-scale crackdown. With secret plots and dirty tricks, the ambitious Kataoko will open up a whole new game of yakuza power struggle. Detective Kataoka intends to instigate conflict between the Sanno and the Hanabishi, their long-time neighboring ally, in the hopes that they ultimately destroy each other. To help weaken the Sanno, the underhanded cop also provokes their grumbling old-guard executives to consider usurping Chairman Kato from top position. And Kataoka’s trump card is the arranged release from prison of Otomo, the rumored-dead boss of a family once crushed by the Sanno. A manipulative The news of Otomo’s release creates tension in the Sanno family. Especially nervous is underboss Ishihara, whose betrayal put Otomo in jail. Fear drives Ishihara to start up a frenzied manhunt to shoot Otomo on sight. But Otomo has no plans on seeking revenge nor does he even intend to be yakuza anymore. Crafty cop Kataoka, however, insists and pushes Otomo to help the police bring down the police crackdown on Sanno family. He forges an unlikely pact between Otomo and Kimura, a former underboss of another family now defunct due to Sanno reign. Kimura also happens to be the guy who stabbed Otomo in prison, making their eventual “sake pact” all the more delicate to organized crime maneuver. ignites a tricky power With the sense of approaching yakuza warfare, deception and betrayal smolder among the families as everyone watches out for the other’s next move. It’s impossible to guess who will come out on top in this fierce power game. It’s not over until it’s over. struggle involving the two biggest yakuza families! SYNOPSIS A NEW TWIST TO OUTRAGE OUTRAGE BEYOND was a way for me to give a new twist to the fairly straightforward story of OUTRAGE. We can even consider the first OUTRAGE as foreshadowing for OUTRAGE BEYOND. With this in mind, I made a conscious effort to turn things around and go against what is normally expected to happen in a story. THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CRUELTY GOOD OR BAD? I believe that a filmmaker needs to be objective toward his subject matter. I can think Policemen and yakuza are usually characterized as one side is good and the other side is bad. Occasionally there are films in of cruel and violent scenes in any which way, but sometimes enough is enough. which a yakuza confronts corrupt police officers, but generally films are about a cop with a strong sense of justice against bad Although I hate to do anything banal in my films, it’s not so easy to conceive a scene yakuza. OUTRAGE BEYOND is a story in which it’s not so easy to determine which side is good or bad. In addition to this ambiguity with the right amount of spice. At the same time, I try not to do something eccentric of good vs. bad, I wanted to establish strategic activities on both sides. For example, one group of characters gives a certain just for the sake of it. Filmmaking requires a sense of balance and a good esthetic official version of their story, but actually they end up doing something completely different. Both sides have a lot going on in intuition to find the right kind and the right amount of cruelty. their minds. I thought it would be interesting to see the story unfold as both the police and yakuza focus on trying to outwit one another at all times. “Risking your life for the family means less now. What matters is how much money you can make for them.” COMMENTS FROM TAKESHI KITANO THE YAKUZA GENRE There are several standards in the yakuza genre. The two main groups are Ken Takakura’s old Zankyo-den series and Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity and its sequels. My gangster films do not belong to either of those two schools. But the fact that I make my A PACT SEALED OVER SAKE own kind of films doesn’t have a lot to do with liking or disliking either of those two. I just make what I want to make and it just so happens that mine are different from the two older schools of yakuza film. Younger talented filmmakers will probably choose to make their own style In OUTRAGE BEYOND, director Takeshi Kitano highlights those strong relationships that are unique to the yakuza without conforming to any of the three existing schools. world. The spiritual nature of the absolute bonds of “kyodai” (brothers) and “oyako” (father and son) go far beyond the actual relationships between blood brothers and real fathers and sons. Often made for more pragmatic VERBAL VIOLENCE than sentimental reasons, these pseudo-familial relationship pacts are sealed during the ritual sharing of sake (“sakazuki”) between individual yakuza to define their hierarchical relationship inside an organization. Once one Depicting characters speaking was one of the things that I pursued as a filmmaker in the first OUTRAGE. But with the first film it was more of a shares the sake, one cannot dissolve the pact easily, which sometimes can work against one’s interest. These one-sided affair where one character or group of characters incessantly curses another. In OUTRAGE BEYOND, I wanted my characters to really fight against one another. This is another way of portraying violence on film, which I consciously incorporated. It’s “verbal violence.” Most actors like for pacts over sake are so solid that yakuza are even willing to die for a “brother,” “father” or “son.” In yakuza films, their characters to have a lot of dialogue. even some by Takeshi Kitano, these relationship pacts are often romanticized, but in OUTRAGE BEYOND, we witness the vanity of this tradition. There is nothing virtuous about these yakuza. DIALOGUE FAITHFUL OUTRAGE BEYOND, Takeshi Kitano’s first ever sequel film project, was launched in the hope of domestic release in fall 2011. The preproduction process I asked my actors to be faithful to the script’s dialogues because I didn’t want word changes to affect the storyline. But I did give them a certain of script writing and casting went off smoothly and Kitano and his team were holding costume fitting sessions at Nikkatsu Studio in Chofu, Tokyo, when amount of freedom as to movement and tempo. Experienced and technically adept actors like to do things their own way. They can’t help it. So I did they experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th, 2011. The production came to a halt and was tentatively postponed shortly thereafter. multiple takes, geting what I wanted in earlier takes and then letting them do what they wanted after that. During editing, I took out shots where they All concerned parties including crew and cast members agreed to resume the project a year later. The shooting began in Kobe on April 2nd, 2012, one did their own thing. There’s no footage of their favorite takes left! Some of the actors will probably be puzzled when they watch the film, thinking: “I put my heart and soul into my performance but Kitano didn’t use those takes!” year after initially scheduled . Kitano and his team shot on location across the country in Aichi, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Ibaraki and wrapped on June 2nd. The film is scheduled to be released Fall 2012 in Japan on more than 200 screens, the biggest release ever for a Takeshi Kitano film. THE SANNO FAMILY WHO’S WHOTHE HANABISHI FAMILY Kato Ishihara Tomita Fuse Nishino Nakata Chairman of the Sanno Underboss of the Sanno Sanno old-guard Executive Chairman of the Hanabishi Underboss of the Hanabishi Deputy Underboss (played by Tomokazu Miura) (played by Ryo Kase) (played by Akira Nakao) (played by Shigeru Koyama) (played by Toshiyuki Nishida) (played by Sansei Shiomi) Formerly their underboss, Kato became the Formerly financial officer of the Otomo clan, Ishihara Tomita is frustrated with the current Kato- A symbolic figure, a heavyweight who represents A big-time underboss known for his artful A typical militant yakuza as can be expected new Chairman five years ago, after the previous saw no future following his old fashioned boss Otomo, Ishihara regime, which puts more emphasis on the crest of the Hanabishi. Underneath his diplomacy which can chill even the most from his brute-like looks. Intimidation tactics chairman Sekiuchi was mysteriously murdered. No so he betrayed him. He secretly sided with Kato and financial accomplishment rather than seniority. gentle posture is a Machiavellian who comes peaceful conducted talks. A sworn brother of that he and Nishino deploy in negotiations can one is supposed to know what really happened.