Comedian Shinagawa brings autobiography to big screen

[Tokyograph News]

Comedian Hiroshi Shinagawa, who is one half of the Shinagawa Shoji duo, has announced that he will be turning his autobiographical novel "Drop" into a movie. The novel has sold 300,000 copies and was turned into a manga that is still being serialized in Monthly Shonen Champion.

Shinagawa will be taking on the duties of screenwriter and director. He directed a short film in 2003 as part of the omnibus "Kantoku Kansen: Director Infection," but this will be his first full-length project.

The story is set in Komae, Tokyo, during the 1980s. As a youth, Hiroshi was a college-bound student at a private high school, but as a fan of the delinquent-genre manga "Be-Bop High School," he began getting in trouble and was transferred to a public school.

Casting is in the final stages, with filming scheduled to start in mid-June. Shinagawa is aiming for release in spring 2009.

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