The release date of “Grand Maison Paris” starring Kimu-taku is too sensitive for the awards race.

Unparalleled Passion for “Grandmaison

It was announced that a new special drama of “Grand Maison Tokyo” starring actor Takuya Kimura (51) will be broadcast on December 29. The movie “Grand Maison Paris” will be released the following day, on December 30.’ The drama version, which aired on TBS’s “Sunday Gekijo” slot in 1919, depicted Natsuki Ohana, a French chef who devotes his life to cooking, played by Kimura, struggling to build a three-star restaurant in Japan, Grand Maison Tokyo, despite clashes with the people around him.

In addition to Kyoka Suzuki (56), who plays Rinko Hayami, the right-hand chef supporting Obana, the cast of the drama version, including Kazuki Sawamura (57), Mitsuhiro Oikawa (55), Yuta Tamamori (34) of “Kis-My-Ft2”, Anne Nakamura (37), and Ai Tominaga (42), have been reunited for the film version. The film version will also feature a Korean idol group. In addition, the film version features Ok Taekyung (35), a member of the Korean idol group “2PM,” and Yoshiki Shomon (35) of the “Ae! group” Yoshiki Shomon (27), a junior member of Kimura and Tamamori’s office. The film is set in Paris, France, and depicts Ohana and his team as they aim to win three stars there.

When the film adaptation was announced in June, a shot of Ms. Kimura and Mr. Suzuki smiling at the camera with the Eiffel Tower in the background, back to back, was shown. Ms. Suzuki withdrew from “This Wonderful World,” a Fuji Television drama series in which she starred, in the July season of last year due to health problems. Since this is her return to work after recovering from the illness, her appearance at PR events and promotional appearances is likely to attract a lot of attention.

Speaking of Kimura, “Legend & Butterfly,” in which he played the role of Nobunaga Oda, grossed 2.47 billion yen at the box office last January. Although the film was a hit when looking at the numbers alone, it was produced for Toei’s 70th anniversary at a total production cost of 2 billion yen, and the film ended up in the red. Kimura is not only seeking revenge for that loss, but he also seems to have an extraordinary passion for this “Grand Maison” film.

The too-subtle timing of the film’s release

Mr. Kimura is very enthusiastic about doing a film that will win film awards,’ he told those around him. Junichi Okada (43) and Kazuya Ninomiya (41), who were juniors in the office, won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010, the film awards chosen by reporters of Tokyo-based sports newspapers.

It is said that the reason he won the award was because the Johnny’s office (now SMILE-UP.) at that time was pushing hard for the award in each sports paper, and there were whispers that Mr. Kimura might win the award for the third consecutive year in FY2011.

However, Mr. Kimura missed out on the Best Actor award, perhaps because he could not match the momentum of “Godzilla-1.0,” which won Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, or perhaps because his office was too busy with the sex abuse issue. So with “Grandmaison,” he will be looking to make up for the disappointment of “Legend & Butterfly” and go after the film award with a gusto.

So far, Kimura’s “HERO” series, a film adaptation of a Fuji TV drama series in which he starred, and the “Masquerade” series, a film adaptation of Keigo Higashino’s bestseller, have been big hits. However, looking back on his film award history, the only awards that stand out are the Best Actor Award at the 20th Nikkan Sports Film Awards for “A Samurai’s Moment” (’06) and the Best Actor Award at the 46th Hochi Film Awards for “Masquerade Night” (’21).

Originally, only Kimura declined the Best Leading Actor Award at the “Japan Academy Prize” for “Takeshi no Ichibun” because his office wanted him to “not participate in the awards race. It is questionable how serious they are about aiming for film awards now, but in fact, the timing of the release of “Grandmaison” is too delicate to aim for awards.

Many film awards group all eligible films together by the end of the year, so there is a high possibility that the film, which has a release date of December 30, will not be caught because almost no jury members have seen it. The “Japan Academy Prize” is for films released by December 31 (for the awards ceremony), but since it has been declined in the past, I am not sure. If they were serious about the awards, I wonder why they couldn’t have been released earlier in the year.

The much-talked-about film “Grand Maison Paris” is expected to be a hit during the New Year’s holiday. Will it really be able to aim for awards?