{"id":802569,"date":"2026-05-17T09:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802569\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T09:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:41:16","slug":"keanu-reeves-to-lead-voice-cast-of-masashi-kawamuras-hidari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802569\/","title":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves To Lead Voice Cast Of Masashi Kawamura\u2019s \u2018Hidari\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKeanu Reeves<\/a> has signed up to lead the voice cast in Japanese animation director Masashi Kawamura\u2019s long-awaited feature film extension of his viral stop-motion short Hidari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tNews of Reeve\u2019s involvement in the project was announced at the Annecy<\/a> Animation\u00a0Showcase in Cannes on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe action-packed feature takes inspiration from accounts of the life of legendary Edo era craftsman Jingoro Hidari.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m thrilled by the vision behind\u00a0Hidari. From the proof of concept to the developed script, the team has created something truly extraordinary. It has all the makings of an exceptional film\u2014one 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 said Reeves.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe feature film takes its cue from Kawamura\u2019s viral stop-motion short of the same name,\u00a0which has garnered close to five million views on YouTube since it was published in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe official synopsis reads: \u201cBetrayed by those desperate to bury the secrets of Edo Castle\u2019s reconstruction, Jingoro loses everything. His father figure, fianc\u00e9e, and even his right arm. On the brink of despair, the legendary craftsman transforms his grief into an unyielding drive for vengeance. Armed with his extraordinary carpentry skills and a series of lethal mechanical prosthetic arms, Jingoro carves his own path to justice. With his loyal companion, the Sleeping Cat, he faces his enemies in a gripping tale of revenge and self-discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is produced by Noriko Matsumoto under the banner of dwarf studios with Whatever, and Tecarat production. The film\u2019s financing partner is Questry Co.\u2019s Tomonobu Ibe, one of Japan\u2019s leading finance professionals specializing in entertainment content finance.<\/p>\n

\n\tMatsumoto has positioned dwarf studios as one of the first in Japan to collaborate with global streamers, with its Netflix series Rilakkuma series gaining widespread attention and popularity, while her latest project, the short film\u00a0Bottle George, was shortlisted at the 2025 Oscars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKawamura\u2019s career spans commercials, music videos, and television shows to creating clones for Lady Gaga and designing the largest pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025. His projects have earned global recognition, including a Cristal at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, an International Emmy Award nomination.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m super excited to be collaborating with Keanu. When 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\u00a0Hidari, he\u2019s helping us shape and expand this world, and I can\u2019t wait to see where we take it together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves has signed up to lead the voice cast in Japanese animation director Masashi Kawamura\u2019s long-awaited feature…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":802570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[326762,297566,171,326763,26534,53,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-802569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-annecy","tag-cannes-2026","tag-entertainment","tag-hidari","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-movies","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116589264480271676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}