casting call for revisionist nanking film

A few weeks back, Ewan sent me this casting call for The Truth of Nanking, an independent Japanese film shooting this summer. It appears to offer a revisionist take on Japan's atrocities in Nanjing in 1937, claiming that widely-held accounts of the massacre are actually falsehoods perpetuated by Chinese government conspiracy. It's absolutely outrageous. Here's a breakdown of the cast (it's long):

THE TRUTH OF NANKING (21 Roles)

Feature Film

SAG - Low Budget Feature

Director: Satoru Mizushima

Casting Director: Yumi Takada

Interview Dates: 6/11-6/28

Shoot/Start Date: mid August to end of September

Location: Los Angles, San Jose, (possibly Japan)

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY

NOTE: ALSO INCLUDE PERFORMANCE VIDEOS OR ACTOR SLATES IF AVAILABLE. DO NOT SEND DEMO TAPES.

PREVIOUS BREAKDOWNS HAVE BEEN RELEASED.

NOTE to Talent Agents : Please DO NOT submit same performers if they were already submitted for this project. This is just to give you better idea of each characters.

PLEASE SUBMIT SAG ONLY

[ANNE] Caucasian female, 25-40, attractive, smart, courageous woman. (The rate is negotiable for well-known actress) She will be working from Aug.20th to the end of September. (Lead)

[DAN] male in 35-45, any ethnicity, he plays a producer in the film, smart, supportive, courageous man, a father of 10 yrs old girl. He will be working from Aug.20th to the end of September. (Lead)

[FOREY KIM] (previously called Pholly Kim), Chinese looking female, no accent, 35-45 yrs old, strong actress, mysterious, sexy, intelligent, she is a book editor. She will be working about 11 days. (supporting)

[CHINESE MAN] no accent, 25-35 yrs old, he plays a body guard of Forey Kim. Tough looking. (2 lines) (will work 6 days)

[MIKE] (previously called Press A), 30's, Caucasian or African American male, (1 line) (will work 1-2 days)

[STEVE] (previously called Press B), 30's, Chinese looking male, no accent (1 line), (will work 1-2 days)

[MARK] (previously called Press C), 30's, Caucasian or African American male (1 line) (will work 1-2 days)

[JENNY] (previously called Jane), 25-30 yrs old, any ethnicity,production assistant, (4 lines) (will work 4 days)

[TONY] any ethnicity, 25-30 yrs old, camera man (5 lines) (will work 10 days) may appear shirtless in one scene.

[NAGOSHI] 35-40 yrs old, Japanese producer, with some Japanese accent (4-8 lines) (will work 6 days)

[ANDY] 25-30 yrs old, production manager, Caucasian male, Andy is gay and has semi long hair and skinny. may appear shirtless in one scene. (1 line), (will work 4 days)
[JUDGE ERICKSON] 50's - 60's, Caucasian male, he is fair, distinguished, (will work 5 days)

[JUDGE O'NEIL] 50's, African American male, (will work 5 days) (He may be just featured without line)

[JUDGE JIAN JIN PING] (previously called Judge Ko), 50's, Chinese looking male, no accent, (will work 5 days) (He may be just featured without line)

[MICHAEL LEE] (previously Mr.Lee), he plays a public procurator, 40's, (will work 5 days)

[BAILIFF] 50's- 60's, Caucasian male, (1 line) (will work 5 days)

[NANCY] 25-30 yrs old, production assistant, any ethnicity (2 lines) (will work 2 days)

[CHINESE REPORTER] male, 30's - 40's, (1 line) (will work 1-2 days)

[TV REPORTER] male/female, 30's-40's any ethnicity, (1 line) (will work 1 day)

[RAND] camera man, Caucasian male, 30's, (1 line) (will work 6-7 days)

[NICK] Camera man assistant, Caucasian male, 25-35 yrs old, (will work 6-7 days) (he may be just featured without line)

STORY LINE: The mysterious suicide of Iris Chang, the author of The Rape of Nanking, leads Anne (an actress) and Dan (a producer) both investigating the Nanking Massacre, to come to believe that Iris was actually an agent working for the Chinese government to spread the demagogue. The two announce the production of a documentary called The Truth of Nanking that challenges the widely accepted notion regarding the Massacre. Little by little, the truth unravels...

The truth? The only truth here is that someone is in serious denial. It astounds me that there are people out there who would devote time, effort and money to such nonsense, in effect denying and trivializing the rape, death and destruction of the Nanking massacre. I believe I mentioned this project earlier in the year, though this article initially announced that it would be a documentary (this casting call makes it look like a narrative): Docs offer rival visions of Nanking. Either way, simply infuriating. (Thanks, Ewan.)

Meanwhile, in other Nanking-related movie news... Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's American-made documentary Nanking will be released in China next week, amid renewed controversy over the atrocity's actual death toll. Historians generally agree the Japanese army slaughtered at least 150,000 civilians and raped tens of thousands of women during its 1937 rampage in Nanjing. But last week, Japanese ruling party lawmakers claimed that documents from their government's archives indicated only about 20,000 people were killed during the attack. It's been sixty years, and the Japanese government still refuses to come clean. Let's face it, we're never going to see reconciliation over this. Not anytime soon. Nanking will be released in Beijing on July 3rd and all across China on July 7th. The film will be released in the United States later this year from THINKFilm.