{"id":1791,"date":"2026-05-17T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/17\/keanu-reeves-to-lead-voice-cast-of-hidari-japanese-stop-motion-samurai-epic-from-director-masashi-kawamura\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:30:00","slug":"keanu-reeves-to-lead-voice-cast-of-hidari-japanese-stop-motion-samurai-epic-from-director-masashi-kawamura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/17\/keanu-reeves-to-lead-voice-cast-of-hidari-japanese-stop-motion-samurai-epic-from-director-masashi-kawamura\/","title":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves to Lead Voice Cast of \u2018Hidari,\u2019 Japanese Stop-Motion Samurai Epic From Director Masashi Kawamura"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tKeanu Reeves is set to lend his voice to the title role of Hidari<\/em>, a Japanese stop-motion action feature in development from director Masashi Kawamura, the project\u2019s producers announced Sunday in Cannes.<\/p>\n

\tThe feature is an expansion of Kawamura\u2019s viral 2023 proof-of-concept short of the same name, which has racked up close to 5 million views on YouTube since its release. Loosely inspired by the legend of Jingoro Hidari, a near-mythic master carpenter from Japan\u2019s Edo period, the film follows the artisan as he loses his father figure, his fianc\u00e9e and his right arm to a betrayal tied to the secret reconstruction of Edo Castle \u2014 then channels his grief into vengeance, wielding a series of mechanical prosthetic arms of his own design alongside his loyal animated wooden companion, the Sleeping Cat. Kawamura has also written the screenplay. \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI\u2019m thrilled by the vision behind Hidari<\/em>,\u201d Reeves said in a statement. \u201cFrom the proof of concept to the developed script, the team has created something truly extraordinary. It has all the makings of an exceptional film \u2014 one I\u2019m excited to see and eager to be part of. I believe this project has the potential to bring something very special to audiences worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tReeves has previously voiced Duke Caboom in Pixar\u2019s Toy Story 4<\/em> (2019) and Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic the Hedgehog 3<\/em> (2024), and narrated and produced under his own BRZRKR comic-book and Netflix<\/a> banner.<\/p>\n

\tKawamura is a Tokyo-based director and creative best known internationally for genre-fluid, design-driven work spanning commercials, music videos, television and large-scale public installations. He earned a Cristal at the Annecy International<\/a> Animation Film Festival, an International Emmy nomination, and top honors at the One Show and Clio Awards; he also designed the largest pavilion at last year\u2019s Osaka World Expo and created the dancing clones for some of Lady Gaga\u2019s stage work. \t<\/p>\n

\tHidari<\/em> is produced by Noriko Matsumoto, head of Japanese animation house Dwarf Studios, which partnered with Netflix on the Rilakkuma<\/em> series \u2014 and whose recent short Bottle George<\/em> was shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Awards. The feature is a co-production between Dwarf Studios, Tokyo creative agency Whatever and animation house TECARAT. Financing comes from Questry Co.\u2019s Tomonobu Ibe, a veteran of Japanese entertainment-content finance.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI\u2019m super excited to be collaborating with Keanu,\u201d Kawamura said in a statement. \u201cWhen someone with his experience and creative vision watches your proof of concept and says, \u2018I want to be part of this,\u2019 it\u2019s an incredible feeling. He\u2019s not just lending his voice to Hidari<\/em> \u2014 he\u2019s helping us shape and expand this world, and I can\u2019t wait to see where we take it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tA release date has not yet been set. Reeves is represented by WME.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keanu Reeves is set to lend his voice to the title role of Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion action feature in development from director Masashi Kawamura, the project\u2019s producers announced Sunday in Cannes. The feature is an expansion of Kawamura\u2019s viral 2023 proof-of-concept short of the same name, which has racked up close to 5 million views on YouTube since its release. Loosely inspired by the legend of Jingoro Hidari, a near-mythic master carpenter from Japan\u2019s Edo period, the film follows the artisan as he loses his father figure, his fianc\u00e9e and his right arm to a betrayal tied to the secret reconstruction of Edo Castle \u2014 then channels his grief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115,307,2,116,27,60,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-cannes-2026","category-hollywood","category-international","category-movie-news","category-movies","category-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}