Dai Watanabe stars in "Saigo no Soukeisen"

[Tokyograph News]

Dai Watanabe, the son of actor Ken Watanabe, has landed his second starring movie role, portraying a college baseball player in Seijiro Koyama's "Saigo no Soukeisen." His first lead role was this past July in "Kenkei Kyoko Satsujin Han Kikoku No Senjo," directed by Takeshi Miyasaka.

Set in 1943, "Saigo no Soukeisen" focuses on the baseball teams of rival universities Waseda and Keio before the teams' members were sent off to the war front. The title refers to the students' final match against each other. This same subject was the basis of the 1979 film "Eireitachi no Ouenka: Saigo no Soukeisen" (also known as "The Last Game") by the late director Kihachi Okamoto.

Watanabe plays a member of the Waseda team. Also appearing are Kana Harada, Tasuku Emoto, and Tasuku's father Akira Emoto. Akira is playing the part of legendary manager Suishu Tobita, generally recognized as one of the most influential figures in Japanese baseball history.

Filming began on October 29 in the Nagano Prefecture. The movie is scheduled for a summer 2008 release, with Cinequanon handling distribution.

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