Rikidōzan (film)

Rikidōzan (Korean: 역도산; RR: Yeokdosan) is a 2004 South Korean-Japanese film written and directed by Song Hae-sung.[1] The film is based on the life of Rikidōzan, a legendary ethnic Korean professional wrestler who became a national hero in Japan in the 1950s. It stars Sol Kyung-gu in the titular role, with Miki Nakatani, Tatsuya Fuji, and actual Japanese wrestlers Keiji Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki in the cast.

Rikidōzan
Movie poster
Hangul역도산
Hanja力道山
Revised RomanizationYeokdosan
McCune–ReischauerYŏkdosan
Directed bySong Hae-sung
Produced byKim Sun-ah
Haruo Umekawa
Written bySong Hae-sung
StarringSol Kyung-gu
Miki Nakatani
Tatsuya Fuji
Masato Hagiwara
Masakatsu Funaki
Music byLee Jae-jin
CinematographyKim Hyung-koo
Edited byPark Gok-ji
Release date
  • December 6, 2004 (2004-12-06)
Running time
137 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
Japan
LanguageJapanese
Korean

Cast

†denotes an actual professional wrestler

Reception

Sol Kyung-gu gained 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) for the role and also delivered 95% of his lines in Japanese.[2][3] Despite winning great praise for his performance, however, the film vastly underperformed in the box office on its local release, with total admissions at 1,249,794.[4]

Nevertheless, Rikidozan was recognized at the 42nd Grand Bell Awards, winning Best Director for Song Hae-sung, and Best Cinematography for Kim Hyung-koo.

References
  1. Kim, Gab-sik (13 October 2004). "A Dialogue between Film Directors Song Hae-sung and Iwai Shunji". The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  2. Lee, Seung-jae (1 December 2004). "I Reflected on Myself in Rikidozan". The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  3. "Sul Kyung-gu Brings a Touch of Muscle to Wrestling Role". The Chosun Ilbo. 15 December 2004. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  4. "Commercial Releases in 2004: Ranked Box-Office Results". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2013-07-16.


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