Why ‘Drive My Car’s Director Hitched A Ride In The Trunk For Key Scenes Of Japan’s History-Making Movie – Contenders Film: The Nominees

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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.Hidetoshi Nishijima stars in that role under the direction of Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who also nabbed nominations for Best Director, Adapted Screenplay and International Feature, making it one of the darlings of this year’s Oscars.

It has already won several critics awards for best picture after first being seen in competition at Cannes and winning for its screenplay there.“ I do understand that this is a very  historical thing, and I was very happy, but at the same time very surprised to have had my work chosen,” Hamaguchi said. “Thinking about going to the Oscars myself makes me very excited.”Hidetoshi, one of Japan’s most famous actors, had only high praise for his director. “One of the biggest talents that director Hamaguchi has is that even though he is working with things that are seen as classical he can make them resonate in contemporary things in our world,“ he said. “Even though he is using Chekhov’s words, and of course they have a universality to them and there is truth in that, I think that also he makes these words resonate through the screenplay and through the actors to make these words living words that are alive, and I think director Hamaguchi has this kind of talent.

It was tough work for me to work on this film but one that was full of joy.”And of course in a movie called Drive My Car, the