Leonie (film)
Encyclopedia
Leonie is a 2010 film directed by Hisako Matsui and starring Emily Mortimer
and Shido Nakamura
. The film is based on the life of Léonie Gilmour
, the American lover and editorial assistant of Japanese writer Yone Noguchi
and mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi
and dancer Ailes Gilmour
. "Set in the early 20th century, this is the true life story of Leonie Gilmour, an American editor and journalist, who falls in love with a famous Japanese poet, Yone Noguchi, and gives birth to a son: Isamu Noguchi, the world renowned sculptor and architect."
Production started in April 2009; the film was previewed in April 2010 and was released in Japan on November 20, 2010.
, grown old, is chipping away at a large stone with a hammer and chisel. "Mother, I want you to tell the story." The film periodically returns to this scene of Isamu at work.
Bryn Mawr
1892. After a class in which she argues with a professor about the importance of artist Artemisia Gentileschi
, Leonie (Emily Mortimer
) befriends Catherine (Christina Hendricks
). Later, they meet Umeko Tsuda (Mieko Harada), a graduate student. In Tsuda’s room, Leonie gazes at a print of Hokusai
’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa
.
The story now alternates between Pasadena 1904—where Leonie, living in a primitive tent with her mother Albiana (Mary Kay Place
), bears a child temporarily named "Yo,"—and New York, where Leonie met Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
(Shido Nakamura
). She and Yone succumb to passion while collaborating on his anonymous novel, The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
, published by Frederick Stokes
(David Jensen
). They quarrel when Yone returns unannounced from London with an apparently drunk Charles Warren Stoddard
(Patrick Weathers). The Russo-Japanese War
begins and Yone, declaring he will return to Japan, greets Leonie's announcement of pregnancy with angry disbelief. Leonie tells her sad story to the now unhappily-married Catherine, who reminds her of her advice not to be boring. In California, Leonie fends off a racist attack against her son and decides, against Albiana's advice, to accept Yone's invitation to come to Japan.
In Yokohama
when the steam ship arrives, Yone finds Leonie and the child, on whom he now bestows the name Isamu. Welcomed somewhat coldly by Yone, Leonie accustoms herself to unfamiliar customs and meets three Tokyo University students Yone has arranged for her to tutor. Angered by Yone's belated confession that he now has another wife, she moves out, against Yone's protests. She begins tutoring the children of Setsu Koizumi, whose stories of her idyllic marriage with the late Lafcadio Hearn
starkly contrast with her own. She also visits Umeko Tsuda to ask for a job at her now famous school, but Umeko, fearing scandal, refuses her. Leonie then gives birth to a daughter, Ailes
. When they visit Yone, he calls her a slut. She decides to build a house in Chigasaki, allowing Isamu, who is unhappy in a Yokohama school, to stay home and supervise the construction.
Yokohama
, 1918: Isamu now wants to go to America. At the ship Yone tries to stop him; Leonie tells him to go, and he obeys. Because of the war, Leonie does not receive Isamu's letters explaining the school has been closed due to the arrest of founder Edward Rumely
(Jay Karnes
) for alleged treason. Rumely belatedly appears and makes arrangements for Isamu, now Americanized as Sam Gilmour.
Leonie and Ailes (Kelly Vitz
) arrive in New York and surprise Isamu (Jan Milligan) who, on Rumely's advice, is studying medicine. Leonie objects, telling Rumely Isamu is destined to be an artist, and he is soon seen neglecting his medical studies for drawing and sculpture. As Isamu gains artistic success and Ailes enters the world of dance, Leonie grows old, eking out a meager existence selling Japanese knickknacks. After an argument with Ailes, she becomes ill and is hospitalized. By the time Isamu makes it to her bedside she has passed away. At the small funeral Isamu meets Catherine.
In a closing scene shot in Sapporo's Moerenuma Park
, Leonie watches children play in the playground designed by Isamu.
Matsui began a grassroots fund-raising project for the film in 2005, giving personal presentations throughout Japan and encouraging her supporters to take an active role in fund-raising.
On Feb. 12, 2009, Production Weekly listed the film as a production of Hyde Park Entertainment to be produced by Ashok Amritraj
and Patrick Aiello, with Emily Mortimer
and Shidou Nakamura identified as cast members.
On April 27, 2009, Production Weekly reported that actresses Christina Hendricks
and Mary Kay Place
had joined the cast, which was said to be currently filming in New Orleans.
Production in the Santa Ynez Valley
on May 11–14, 2009 was reported in The Santa Ynez Valley Journal. According to the story, a local ranch "was used as the setting for a small settlement just outside Pasadena in 1904, where settlers are trying to eke out an existence in the hard scrabble life of the time."
The article also noted the participation of local residents as extras, including seven-week-old Jordyn Oltman serving as "Baby Isamu photo double."
Returning to Japan, production continued in Takamatsu
and Moerenuma Park
, Sapporo. In both cases, Matsui invited supporters to participate as extras.
On July 30, 2009, Matsui returned to the United States and began postproduction work in Los Angeles. On September 1, 2009, she reported on her selection of Barbara Tulliver as editor, citing Tulliver's work on numerous films, and noting her extensive work for David Mamet
..
In September 2009, Oscar winning composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek started writing the score for Leonie.
On April 3, 2010 at Sogetsu Hall in Tokyo a special preview screening of the film was given for the film's supporters. The screening was followed by a party attended by Matsui, Nakamura Shido, and many of the film's organizers. It was announced that Kadokawa Pictures
would distribute the film theatrically in Japan. Additional preview screenings in Japan and at the Hawaii International Film Festival
followed through the summer and fall. On October 5, 2010, Empress Michiko attended a special pre-release screening at Yūrakuchō
Asahi Hall with Matsui and many cast members..
The film opened in Japan on November 20, 2010. A DVD was released by Kadokawa Pictures
in August 2011.
Following the film's theatrical run in Japan, Matsui assembled a new production team to reedit and market the film for international release.
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
and Shido Nakamura
Shido Nakamura
, better known by the stage name , is a Japanese kabuki and film actor.- Background:Born in Tokyo, the son of kabuki actor Nakamura Shidō I, young Nakamura made his kabuki debut at the age of eight. He took the name Shidō the following year, following his father's retirement...
. The film is based on the life of Léonie Gilmour
Léonie Gilmour
Léonie Gilmour was an American educator, editor, and journalist. She was the lover and editor of the writer Yone Noguchi and the mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and dancer Ailes Gilmour...
, the American lover and editorial assistant of Japanese writer Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya...
and mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
and dancer Ailes Gilmour
Ailes Gilmour
Ailes Gilmour was a Japanese American dancer who was one of the young pioneers of the American Modern Dance movement of the 1930s. She was one of the first members of Martha Graham's dance company. Ailes' older brother was sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Ailes, born 1912 in Yokohama, Japan, and...
. "Set in the early 20th century, this is the true life story of Leonie Gilmour, an American editor and journalist, who falls in love with a famous Japanese poet, Yone Noguchi, and gives birth to a son: Isamu Noguchi, the world renowned sculptor and architect."
Production started in April 2009; the film was previewed in April 2010 and was released in Japan on November 20, 2010.
Plot
The film opens on a beach. A window overlooks the beach. In a dark room, Isamu NoguchiIsamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, grown old, is chipping away at a large stone with a hammer and chisel. "Mother, I want you to tell the story." The film periodically returns to this scene of Isamu at work.
Bryn Mawr
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
1892. After a class in which she argues with a professor about the importance of artist Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Early Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation influenced by Caravaggio...
, Leonie (Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
) befriends Catherine (Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...
). Later, they meet Umeko Tsuda (Mieko Harada), a graduate student. In Tsuda’s room, Leonie gazes at a print of Hokusai
Hokusai
was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting...
’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
, also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. An example of ukiyo-e art, it was published sometime between 1830 and 1833 as the first in Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji , and is his most famous work...
.
The story now alternates between Pasadena 1904—where Leonie, living in a primitive tent with her mother Albiana (Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...
), bears a child temporarily named "Yo,"—and New York, where Leonie met Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya...
(Shido Nakamura
Shido Nakamura
, better known by the stage name , is a Japanese kabuki and film actor.- Background:Born in Tokyo, the son of kabuki actor Nakamura Shidō I, young Nakamura made his kabuki debut at the age of eight. He took the name Shidō the following year, following his father's retirement...
). She and Yone succumb to passion while collaborating on his anonymous novel, The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl is the first English novel published in the United States by a person of Japanese ancestry. Acquired for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Monthly Magazine by editor Ellery Sedgwick in 1901, it appeared in two excerpted installments in November and December of that...
, published by Frederick Stokes
Frederick Stokes
Frederick Stokes may refer to:*Frederick Stokes , the first captain of the England national rugby union team*Sir Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes, KBE , inventor and civil engineer...
(David Jensen
David Jensen
David "Kid" Jensen , is a Danish Canadian-born, British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in a Danish family residing Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in...
). They quarrel when Yone returns unannounced from London with an apparently drunk Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard was an American author and editor.-Life and works:Charles Warren Stoddard was born in Rochester, New York on August 7, 1843. He was descended in a direct line from Anthony Stoddard of England, who settled at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1639...
(Patrick Weathers). The Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
begins and Yone, declaring he will return to Japan, greets Leonie's announcement of pregnancy with angry disbelief. Leonie tells her sad story to the now unhappily-married Catherine, who reminds her of her advice not to be boring. In California, Leonie fends off a racist attack against her son and decides, against Albiana's advice, to accept Yone's invitation to come to Japan.
In Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
when the steam ship arrives, Yone finds Leonie and the child, on whom he now bestows the name Isamu. Welcomed somewhat coldly by Yone, Leonie accustoms herself to unfamiliar customs and meets three Tokyo University students Yone has arranged for her to tutor. Angered by Yone's belated confession that he now has another wife, she moves out, against Yone's protests. She begins tutoring the children of Setsu Koizumi, whose stories of her idyllic marriage with the late Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
starkly contrast with her own. She also visits Umeko Tsuda to ask for a job at her now famous school, but Umeko, fearing scandal, refuses her. Leonie then gives birth to a daughter, Ailes
Ailes Gilmour
Ailes Gilmour was a Japanese American dancer who was one of the young pioneers of the American Modern Dance movement of the 1930s. She was one of the first members of Martha Graham's dance company. Ailes' older brother was sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Ailes, born 1912 in Yokohama, Japan, and...
. When they visit Yone, he calls her a slut. She decides to build a house in Chigasaki, allowing Isamu, who is unhappy in a Yokohama school, to stay home and supervise the construction.
Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, 1918: Isamu now wants to go to America. At the ship Yone tries to stop him; Leonie tells him to go, and he obeys. Because of the war, Leonie does not receive Isamu's letters explaining the school has been closed due to the arrest of founder Edward Rumely
Edward Rumely
Edward Aloysius Rumely was a physician, educator, and newspaper man from Indiana.- Education :Rumely was born at La Porte, Indiana, in 1882. He attended University of Notre Dame, Oxford University, University of Heidelberg. He graduated from the University of Freiburg, where he received his M.D...
(Jay Karnes
Jay Karnes
Jay Karnes is an American actor, born in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Kansas . He is well known for his role as L.A.P.D. Det...
) for alleged treason. Rumely belatedly appears and makes arrangements for Isamu, now Americanized as Sam Gilmour.
Leonie and Ailes (Kelly Vitz
Kelly Vitz
Kelly Vitz is an American actress, of German and Chinese descent. She is best known for playing Magenta in the Disney movie Sky High and Trish in Nancy Drew. She also attended UC Berkeley and was active in student organizations like The Suitcase Clinic.-Filmography:*Nancy Drew .... Trish*Teenius...
) arrive in New York and surprise Isamu (Jan Milligan) who, on Rumely's advice, is studying medicine. Leonie objects, telling Rumely Isamu is destined to be an artist, and he is soon seen neglecting his medical studies for drawing and sculpture. As Isamu gains artistic success and Ailes enters the world of dance, Leonie grows old, eking out a meager existence selling Japanese knickknacks. After an argument with Ailes, she becomes ill and is hospitalized. By the time Isamu makes it to her bedside she has passed away. At the small funeral Isamu meets Catherine.
In a closing scene shot in Sapporo's Moerenuma Park
Moerenuma Park
is a municipal park located in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Japan. The park has some playground equipment, outdoor sports fields, and objects which are designed by Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American artist. Visitors can enter the park and use the parking lot for free. Construction of the park was begun in...
, Leonie watches children play in the playground designed by Isamu.
Cast
- Rob Brownstein as Frederick StokesFrederick StokesFrederick Stokes may refer to:*Frederick Stokes , the first captain of the England national rugby union team*Sir Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes, KBE , inventor and civil engineer...
- Yasuo Daichi as a carpenter
- Mieko Harada as Umeko Tsuda
- Christina HendricksChristina HendricksChristina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...
as Catharine Bunnell - Jay KarnesJay KarnesJay Karnes is an American actor, born in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Kansas . He is well known for his role as L.A.P.D. Det...
as Dr. Edward RumelyEdward RumelyEdward Aloysius Rumely was a physician, educator, and newspaper man from Indiana.- Education :Rumely was born at La Porte, Indiana, in 1882. He attended University of Notre Dame, Oxford University, University of Heidelberg. He graduated from the University of Freiburg, where he received his M.D... - Takashi Kashiwabara as Michihiko Kawada
- Emily MortimerEmily MortimerEmily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
as Leonie GilmourLéonie GilmourLéonie Gilmour was an American educator, editor, and journalist. She was the lover and editor of the writer Yone Noguchi and the mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and dancer Ailes Gilmour... - Jan Milligan as Isamu NoguchiIsamu Noguchiwas a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
- Masatoshi Nakamura as Toshu Senda
- Shido NakamuraShido Nakamura, better known by the stage name , is a Japanese kabuki and film actor.- Background:Born in Tokyo, the son of kabuki actor Nakamura Shidō I, young Nakamura made his kabuki debut at the age of eight. He took the name Shidō the following year, following his father's retirement...
as Yone NoguchiYone NoguchiYone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya... - Mary Kay PlaceMary Kay PlaceMary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...
as Albiana Gilmour - Marco St. JohnMarco St. JohnMarco St. John is an American actor who has starred in many films and on television. He is best known for his role as the perverted truck driver in the 1991 hit film Thelma & Louise. St. John is also well known in the horror fan community for playing Sheriff Tucker in the 1985 horror film Friday...
as Onorio RuotoloOnorio RuotoloA sculptor and poet, Onorio Ruotolo was born in Cervinara, Italy.He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and emigrated to the United States in 1908. The struggle and poverty he observed in New York City engendered in him a concern for society, which he expressed in cartoons, poetry,... - Keiko TakeshitaKeiko TakeshitaKeiko Takeshita is a Japanese actress.-External links:*...
as Setsu Koizumi - Kelly VitzKelly VitzKelly Vitz is an American actress, of German and Chinese descent. She is best known for playing Magenta in the Disney movie Sky High and Trish in Nancy Drew. She also attended UC Berkeley and was active in student organizations like The Suitcase Clinic.-Filmography:*Nancy Drew .... Trish*Teenius...
as Ailes GilmourAiles GilmourAiles Gilmour was a Japanese American dancer who was one of the young pioneers of the American Modern Dance movement of the 1930s. She was one of the first members of Martha Graham's dance company. Ailes' older brother was sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Ailes, born 1912 in Yokohama, Japan, and... - Patrick Weathers as Charles Warren StoddardCharles Warren StoddardCharles Warren Stoddard was an American author and editor.-Life and works:Charles Warren Stoddard was born in Rochester, New York on August 7, 1843. He was descended in a direct line from Anthony Stoddard of England, who settled at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1639...
- So Yamanaka as Tomoharu Iwakura
Production
Matsui is an independent filmmaker who previously directed the films Yukie (1998) and Ori ume (2002).Matsui began a grassroots fund-raising project for the film in 2005, giving personal presentations throughout Japan and encouraging her supporters to take an active role in fund-raising.
On Feb. 12, 2009, Production Weekly listed the film as a production of Hyde Park Entertainment to be produced by Ashok Amritraj
Ashok Amritraj
Ashok Amritraj is an Indian American film producer, former tour professional tennis player, and chairman of Hyde Park Entertainment.-Professional tennis:...
and Patrick Aiello, with Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
and Shidou Nakamura identified as cast members.
On April 27, 2009, Production Weekly reported that actresses Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...
and Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...
had joined the cast, which was said to be currently filming in New Orleans.
Production in the Santa Ynez Valley
Santa Ynez Valley
The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Valley is separated from the Los Alamos Valley, to the...
on May 11–14, 2009 was reported in The Santa Ynez Valley Journal. According to the story, a local ranch "was used as the setting for a small settlement just outside Pasadena in 1904, where settlers are trying to eke out an existence in the hard scrabble life of the time."
The article also noted the participation of local residents as extras, including seven-week-old Jordyn Oltman serving as "Baby Isamu photo double."
Returning to Japan, production continued in Takamatsu
Takamatsu, Kagawa
is a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and is the seat of the prefectural government. It is designated a core city by the Japanese Government. It is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea, and is the closest port to Honshu from Shikoku island...
and Moerenuma Park
Moerenuma Park
is a municipal park located in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Japan. The park has some playground equipment, outdoor sports fields, and objects which are designed by Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American artist. Visitors can enter the park and use the parking lot for free. Construction of the park was begun in...
, Sapporo. In both cases, Matsui invited supporters to participate as extras.
On July 30, 2009, Matsui returned to the United States and began postproduction work in Los Angeles. On September 1, 2009, she reported on her selection of Barbara Tulliver as editor, citing Tulliver's work on numerous films, and noting her extensive work for David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
..
In September 2009, Oscar winning composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek started writing the score for Leonie.
On April 3, 2010 at Sogetsu Hall in Tokyo a special preview screening of the film was given for the film's supporters. The screening was followed by a party attended by Matsui, Nakamura Shido, and many of the film's organizers. It was announced that Kadokawa Pictures
Kadokawa Pictures
is a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...
would distribute the film theatrically in Japan. Additional preview screenings in Japan and at the Hawaii International Film Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
followed through the summer and fall. On October 5, 2010, Empress Michiko attended a special pre-release screening at Yūrakuchō
Yurakucho
is a neighborhood of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan situated in between the Ginza and Hibiya Park, near the neighborhood of Shinbashi. Unlike its tonier neighbor Ginza, Yūrakuchō provides a glimpse of Japanese life from the early postwar period, with its many izakaya and outdoor yakitori restaurants , many...
Asahi Hall with Matsui and many cast members..
The film opened in Japan on November 20, 2010. A DVD was released by Kadokawa Pictures
Kadokawa Pictures
is a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...
in August 2011.
Following the film's theatrical run in Japan, Matsui assembled a new production team to reedit and market the film for international release.