Satoshi Tsumabuki (Waterboys, Dororo) has been cast alongside actress Rei Dan in the 2009 Takahisa Zeze film Pandemic (Kansen Rettou). The story, inspired by recent fear of avian flu, involves a large-scale virus which infects 25 million people. Tsumabaki will play a doctor working to save lives at a field hospital and Dan will play a medical officer from the World Health Organization.

To ensure accuracy thorough research was done to explore how a massive outbreak like this would be handled by Japan’s current crisis management officials and medical experts. Instead of going for the seemingly easier exploitational approach this film will try to depict people’s perseverance and will to survive in the face of adversity.

Tsumabaki is no stranger to the apocalypse genre, having starred in Joji Iida’s 2003 science fiction disaster movie Dragon Head. In that movie his character survives a mysterious catastrophe which leaves a vast area surrounding Tokyo wiped out. He and co-star Sayaka Kanda struggle to survive in the aftermath while the other survivors either succumb to madness or simply give up. It should be interesting to see the contrast in how he approaches the role of a heroic doctor vs the inept whiny teenager he played in Dragon Head. Both movies seem to have a very similar overall theme but approach it from vastly different angles.

“Pandemic” will begin filming in March and is tentatively scheduled for release in January, 2009.

Sources: TokyoGraph, Nikkan Sports

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Tags: chizuru ikewaki, koichi sato, pandemic, rei dan, ryoko kuninaka, satoshi tsumabuki, takahisa zeze, takanori takeyama, tatsuya fuji, yuji tanaka