(born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Biography

Early life

Kitamura was born in

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...

, Japan. He dropped out of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

at age 17 and relocated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia, where he attended a school for visual arts. His first film as director was the short ''Exit'', which he made as his graduation piece at age 19.

Career

After graduating, he returned to Japan to establish Napalm Films, his independent production studio. His

featurettes In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length fil ...

''Down to Hell'' and ''Heat after Dark'' were successful in film festivals, and he soon found his first mainstream success with the

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage i ...

'' Versus''. The film launched the career of stars

Tak Sakaguchi is a Japanese actor, director, fight choreographer, stuntman and martial artist. He is best known for his role in Ryuhei Kitamura's cult film, '' Versus''. Since his debut, Sakaguchi has worked with Kitamura several times, often appearing alo ...

and Hideo Sakaki, and brought Kitamura international recognition when it was released on DVD outside Japan in 2004. In 2002, Kitamura directed the short film ''The Messenger: Requiem for the Dead'' as part of the '' Jam Films'' project, as well as '' Alive''. In 2003, he directed a feature film adaptation of the

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

'' Azumi'', and '' Sky High'', a prequel to the popular Japanese

television drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

.Gifford, Kevin. "Azumi". ''Newtype USA''. 5 (11) p. 154. . . He collaborated with director Yukihiko Tsutsumi in the Duel Project, in which the two challenged one another to produce the best dueling movie with minimal production time and budget, with '' Aragami'' being Kitamura's contribution. Also in 2003, Kitamura served as producer for the film ''

Battlefield Baseball is a 2003 Japanese film directed by Yūdai Yamaguchi. The film is written by Gatarō Man, based on his manga series of the same name, and stars Tak Sakaguchi, Atsushi Itō, and Hideo Sakaki. It was produced by Ryuhei Kitamura. The film is a c ...

'', the directorial debut of ''Versus'' co-writer

Yūdai Yamaguchi is a Japanese film director who has worked mainly in the comedy and horror genres. He has "made a name for himself by mixing goofy gore with manga-esque escapades and plain utter weirdness". Life and career Yamaguchi was born in 1971 and attend ...

. Kitamura directed 2004's '' Godzilla: Final Wars'', the 28th installment in the renowned

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

franchise. The film was the first of Kitamura's projects to hold its premiere in Hollywood. In 2006, Kitmura directed ''LoveDeath'', before relocating to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In 2003, he directed the in-game cutscenes for '' Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes'', a remake of the iconic Metal Gear Solid for the

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

. Unlike previous titles in the series, ''The Twin Snakes'' was developed by

Silicon Knights Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they mo ...

and produced by

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has ca ...

. The game featured similar mechanics to '' Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty'' due to having been made on the same engine. Kitamura's direction of the cutscenes was viewed as controversial, criticism leveled at its ''

Matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** '' The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchi ...

''-like action tone and unrealistic stunts performed by the characters. Regardless, it went on to receive positive reviews from video game review sites. In 2008, Kitamura made his American filmmaking debut with ''

Midnight Meat Train ''The Midnight Meat Train'' is a 2008 American horror film based on Clive Barker's 1984 short story of the same name, which can be found in Volume One of Barker's collection '' Books of Blood''. The film follows a photographer who attempts to tra ...

'' based on

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

's short horror story of the same name. The film (starring Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, and

Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film '' Pretty Baby'' (1978). She continued to model into ...

) was distributed by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

, and released directly to the

secondary market The secondary market, also called the aftermarket and follow on public offering, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the ...

on August 1, 2008. Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, the film was a box office failure. Kitamura's next directorial venture did not come until 2012 with '' No One Lives'', starring Luke Evans and Adelaide Clemens. It was shown as part of the Midnight Madness portion of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and received a limited theatrical release on May 10, 2013. While promoting ''No One Lives'', Kitamura announced that he was working on his "comeback" film in Japan, stating in an interview, "It’s a completely different role than what I’ve done before. It’s also not a bloody movie, not a horror movie. It’s a big action movie." In November, 2013, the project was revealed to be '' Lupin III'', a modern adaptation of the iconic

by Monkey Punch. The film was released in Japan on August 30, 2014. Kitamura's 2017 thriller film, '' Downrange'', was announced to premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017. The film follows a group of people on a road trip who are trapped on a country road by a sniper. In 2018, Kitamura directed a segment in the anthology horror film '' Nightmare Cinema''.

Future projects

Kitamura is set to direct the

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

''Black Friday 3D'', based on a screenplay by Joe Knetter. He is also attached to direct ''Marble City'', a revenge film written by Tom Sjolund, as well as ''Gun Monkeys'', from a screenplay by Lee Goldberg based on the novel by Victor Gischler. In May 2013, Kitamura confirmed that he has written the script for '' Versus 2'', and that

would likely reprise his role from the original film. In September 2015, it was announced that Kitamura will direct the supernatural thriller ''Vessels'' for Ubiquity Studios, set to be filmed in early 2016.

Personal life

Kitamura speaks English fluently. His favorite ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produ ...

'' film is '' Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla'' (1974), and his favourite

is King Caesar. He has expressed admiration for fellow Japanese director

Shunji Iwai is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainmen ...

, asserting that the film '' Swallowtail Butterfly'' is "the best Japanese movie ever made." He has stated that his "dream project" would be to direct an installment in the '' Mad Max'' film franchise.

Filmography

Films

Video games

Notes

References

External links

Ryuhei Kitamura Official Site (available in Japanese and English)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitamura, Ryuhei 1969 births Horror film directors Japanese film directors Living people People from Osaka Prefecture