Japanese auteur Sion Sono is switching things up and moving to the small screen.
According to Indiewire, Sono is behind new Amazon Original series Tokyo Vampire Hotel. All 9 episodes will be made available on Amazon Prime Japan on June 19th, 2017, though no word yet on a possible US release.
The prolific director, known for his unique range of films like Love Exposure, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, and Tokyo Tribe, is working from a completely original screenplay for the series. Tokyo Vampire Hotel is the classic “humanity vs. vampires” tale, but knowing Sono’s work it is sure to end up being much more than that. The series stars Kaho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Ami Tomite, Yumi Adachi and Megumi Kagurazaka, Sono’s wife.
“I had wanted to make an original vampire movie for a long time,” said Sono. “I approached it as if making a movie. I am proud to say we’ve produced something that has never been done before either as TV drama or feature film.”
“Our focus is to work with the content creators to be innovative and deliver a content experience only available on Amazon,” said James Farrell, head of Asia Pacific content for Amazon Prime Video. “Right from the first episode customers will see something they haven’t seen before that’s awesome and different. With his unique voice and baroque style, Sono puts his mark on any genre.”
Tokyo Vampire Hotel was developed and produced with Nikkatsu Corporation. Though Sono created the series, Jun Tsugita, Manabu Ikarimoto, Tomohiro Kubo and Daisuke Matsuo wrote on the series as well. Kubo and Matsuo also direct.