Oscar-winning Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s animated movie “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” will be adapted into a kabuki production next year in a first for one of his films.
Kabuki actor Kikunosuke Onoe V, who came up with the idea to do the remake, will play the 1984 animation’s protagonist Nausicaa, while Shichinosuke Nakamura II will play Princess Kushana, the main antagonist, according to Shinbashi Enbujo Theater, where the kabuki is set to be performed in December 2019.
The film tells the story of Nausicaa, the young princess of the Valley of the Wind, who is embroiled in a war in a post-apocalyptic world where humankind is threatened by environmental destruction.
Other kabuki actors that are expected to take part in the stage production include Matsuya Onoe II, Minosuke Bando II and Ukon Onoe II.
“Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” one of Miyazaki’s most well-known works, was released in Japan a year before the animator co-founded Studio Ghibli with director Isao Takahata.
Miyazaki’s other major films include “My Neighbor Totoro” in 1998, “Princess Mononoke” in 1997 and “Spirited Away” in 2001.
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