Upcoming movie ‘人間失格 / No Longer Human’

The actor Ikuta Toma (24), along with actress Terajima Shinobu (36) and others, attended the press announcement of the upcoming movie ‘人間失格 / No Longer Human’ (scheduled to premiere in January 2010) in Tokyo. ‘No Longer Human’ is originally a novel written by Dazai Osamu, and largely considered to be his masterpiece. The main character is Oba Yozo, a man that is plagued by self-consciousness and cannot socialize with other people. He turns to binge-drinking and womanizing, and gradually ruins himself.

This will be Ikuta’s debut film and naturally will be his first ever lead role in a movie. He commented, “I’m extremely honored to appear in an important film commemorating the 100th anniversary of Dazai’s birth.” He showed a lot of enthusiasm towards the upcoming filming. “I will let the director and the novel control me and try to gradually lose my mind [like the main character].” Asked about his co-stars such as Terajima and the actress Mita Yoshiko (67), he seemed eager about working with them. “I’m really excited and a little nervous. I want to learn a lot from them.”