‘Drive My Car’ Director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi ‘Never Imagined’ He’d Be Going to the Oscars

At Contenders Film: The Nominees, Deadline presented a panel with the director and star of perhaps the most historic nominated film at this year’s Oscars, Drive My Car, which represents Japan’s first-ever Best Picture nomination. It’s an astounding feat for a three-hour Japanese-language film, about a stage director’s personal crisis interweaved with his trip to Hiroshima to direct a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

As Drive My Car sped from a best screenplay win and stellar reviews at Cannes to four Oscar nominations (Best Picture, International Feature, Director, Adapted Screenplay), distributor credits for the three-hour Japanese drama went to Sideshow/Janus Films – the former a little known new venture from Jonathan Sehring.

, Memphis' fiancé, Hamza, gets upset when she tells him about her relationship with her ex-husband, who's the father of her second child.Memphis, 34, traveled to Tunisia from Michigan to meet 26-year-old Hamza on this season of after they connected on a dating app. Although the two have physical chemistry, they have run into serious issues, including him lying about his age — he originally told her he was 28 years old — and the two arguing about his finances and whether or not to sign a prenup.

EXCLUSIVE: Sonia Yuan, who stars in Japan’s first Best Picture Oscar nominee Drive My Car, has signed with Artist International Group for management.

Naman Ramachandran “Adipurush,” starring Prabhas (the “Baahubali” films), is one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2022. It is directed by Om Raut, who directed Ajay Devgn-starring “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior,” the biggest Indian box office hit of 2020 with $50 million.“Adipurush” is Raut’s take on Indian mythological epic “Ramayana,” which has been adapted for film and television numerous times in India, including a series which ran for several years on state broadcaster Doordarshan.

Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of the Oscar-nominated movie Licorice Pizza, is finally responding to the backlash the film received for scenes in which an actor uses a fake Asian accent.

Nicole Avant My mother raised me to believe that the soul is everlasting. She simply did not believe that you could kill someone’s spirit. The physical body may go away, but the spirit — the Divine essence within us that makes us who we are — is something that is always here.

Super Mario RPG has said that if he could, he would like a sequel to be his final game.Speaking to MinnMax, with transcriptions from NintendoLife, Super Mario RPG director Chihiro Fujioka spoke about the development of the Square Enix produced JRPG, and also noted that he would like to make a follow-up to the game. “Yeah, I would absolutely love to make one,” Fujioka responded when asked if he wanted to work on a Mario RPG again.

only playing in select theaters.However, just in time for the Oscars on March 27, “Drive My Car” is getting a streaming release next month on HBO Max. The service revealed Monday that “Drive My Car” will be streaming on HBO Max starting March 2, as a result of WarnerMedia OneFifty acquiring the drama for streaming.Directed and co-written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car” is based on the short story of the same name by Haruki Murakami and follows a widowed actor/director (Hidetoshi Nishijima) as he makes a multilingual production of “Uncle Vanya” in Hiroshima while also dealing with the sudden death of his wife.

EXCLUSIVE: Warnermedia OneFifty has acquired the Japanese road drama Drive My Car to premiere on HBO Max on March 2, 2022.

Weekend grosses popped higher for Oscar Best Picture nominees led by Licorice Pizza, Belfast and Drive My Car.

Films from Belfast to Drive My Car, from The Worst Person In The World to Nightmare Alley saw ticket sales pop after Academy Award nominations and as distributors kick into high gear for this weekend and beyond, juggling theater counts and ramped up media campaigns that now have a shiny new imprimatur.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Nezouh,” from Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.The drama, set against the backdrop of the conflict in Damascus, marks Kaadan’s follow up to her 2018 feature debut, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which won the Lion of the Future prize at Venice. Her 2019 short “Aziza,” meanwhile, won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.Co-financed by BFI, which awarded National Lottery funding, and Film4, “Nezouh” is an allegorical tale of female emancipation.The movie follows 14-year-old Zeina and her family, whose lives are shaken after a bomb rips a giant hole in the roof of their building, exposing them to the outside world.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn a year when a festival darling like Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” was able to garner four Oscar nominations, including best picture, questions for the Berlin Film Festival jury — which includes Hamaguchi — centered on the role of film festivals in connecting both arthouse and mainstream audiences.Declaring that he “felt like a kid” at the Berlinale, where his jury will be watching 18 films in all, M. Night Shyamalan sat beaming next to Hamaguchi, who is fresh off his Oscar nomination for best director earlier this week.

The 72nd Berlin Film Festival kicks off in physical form today with M. Night Shyamalan leading the main competition jury. Also notable among panelists is Oscar nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi whose Drive My Car this week became the first Japanese movie ever nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Hamaguchi was actually on a plane heading to Berlin when the nominations were announced, and only learned of the results upon landing.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing theatrical distributor and streamer MUBI has picked up all rights from The Match Factory to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar breakout Drive My Car for Latin America, India, Malaysia, Africa (excluding French language Pay-TV rights) and the Middle East (excluding Israel and Turkey).

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe Oscar nominations for “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour drama about a man dealing with the death of his wife, have thrilled the director’s native Japan.News of the four Academy Awards nominations was reported by all major Japanese media, from the most serious Nikkei business daily to the sports tabloids whose usual coverage of local art films is zero.The news also lit up Twitter.“An Academy Award nomination for Best Picture is a great accomplishment. I think the melding between Haruki Murakami and Chekhov has created a universality that can be felt around the world,” said Twitter user YasioE.“I really want it to win the Best Picture award, don’t you? Judging from the state of the awards race, I think it can win it.

After whittling down from 93 country submissions to a shortlist of 15, the Oscars’ Best International Feature category has its final five nominees, welcoming some familiar faces, and for the first time, an entirely new entrant.

2022 Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, and one pleasant surprise was the recognition for a Japanese drama that has become the latest foreign-language nominee to break out of the International Film category and earn major Academy recognition.After a Best Foreign Language Film win at the Golden Globes earlier this year,  -- directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and based on Haruki Murakami's short story of the same name -- was certainly expected to be a contender in the Best International Feature Film category. However, the film scored additional nods for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Best Picture nomination.Members of the cast and crew reacted to the nominations in statements to ET.