Toshiyuki Nishida to lead cast of Kitano's Outrage Beyond

The cast and release date for actor-director Takeshi Kitano’s sequel to successful yakuza drama Outrage were announced today.

Entitled Outrage Beyond, the lineup of new faces will be led by veteran film actor Toshiyuki Nishida. He is joined by Yutaka Matsushige, Katsunori Takahashi, Hirofumi Arai, Shiomi Sansei, Akira Nakao and Kenta Kiritani.

Nishida is perhaps best known for his co-starring role in Shochiku’s long-running fishing comedy series Free And Easy, which came to an end in 2009. His other credits include The Ramen Girl with late actress Brittany Murphy and Suite Dreams.

Although many of the cast were brutally killed off in the first installment, returning are Tomokazu Miura, Hideo Nakano, Ryo Kase, and Fumiyo Kohinata. Kase’s international profile has continued to grow steadily since Letters From Iwo Jima with roles in Gus Van Sant’s Restless and Abbas Kiarostami’s upcoming Japanese-language drama Like Someone In Love.

Director, screenwriter and editor Kitano will again star, despite his character Otomo seemingly being stabbed to death in prison at the finale of the original. In the sequel, Otomo is released and finds himself caught in the middle of a feud between yakuza factions in eastern and western Japan and a police crackdown on organized crime.

The details were unveiled today at a press conference held at a golf resort in Chiba prefecture, where the film is currently shooting.

As reported last June, the sequel had been one of the higher profile productions put on hold after the March 11 disaster. Outrage, released in June 2010, marked Kitano’s second most successful release at home earning $9.3m and strong international sales through Celluloid Dreams after its Cannes competition world premiere.

In line with the scheduled fall 2012 release announced last year, Warner Brothers will open Outrage Beyond on October 6 on over 200 screens – Kitano’s widest release to date.

The film could potentially have its world premiere in Venice, where Kitano has a long-standing appreciation and a prize named after his 2007 release Glory To The Filmmaker!