Takeo Kimura
| Takeo Kimura | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 1, 1918 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | March 21, 2010 (aged 91) Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Art director, writer, film director |
Takeo Kimura (木村 威夫 Kimura Takeo?, April 1, 1918 – March 21, 2010) was a Japanese art director, writer and film director. Beginning his career in 1945 he art-directed well over 200 films. He was one of Japan's best known art directors, most famously for his collaborations with cult director Seijun Suzuki through the 1960s at the Nikkatsu Company, exemplified by Tokyo Drifter (1966). Other directors with whom he frequently worked include Toshio Masuda, Kazuo Kuroki, Kei Kumai and Kaizo Hayashi. At age 90 he made his feature film directorial debut with Dreaming Awake (2008). He had also worked as a critic, writer, painter, photographer and teacher.
Kimura was born in Tokyo on April 1, 1918. A graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University with a background in theatre, Kimura joined the Nikkatsu Company's scenography department in 1941. The same year, the government ordered the ten major movie studios to consolidate into two. A counteroffer of three was accepted and Nikkatsu merged with Daito and Shinko, the first shutting down their film production unit, and the new company was named Daiei. Kimura continued as an assistant with Daiei after World War II and was promoted to art director in 1945. His debut film was Masanori Igayama's Umi no yobu koe (1945). When Nikkatsu opened a new studio and resumed film production in 1954, Kimura transferred there.
"Kimura is a very unique person, a different kind of art director. He'd suddenly come up with the weirdest idea and just do it. Nikkatsu was very afraid of Kimura and me working together because they thought we might just do something really weird. Kimura makes every movie as if it were his last. And he would think 'if this is my last, then I can do anything I want.' That's why I love working with Kimura as an art director."
...
Wikipedia