barbosa2007 | Hana Yori Dango live action - Version Zero (1995) (Reply)

I was highly amused when I came across this so I thought I'd share.

Yes, before the Japanese live action, or even the Taiwanese Meteor Garden, there was a live action movie of HYD in Japan released in 1995.

There was a passing mention of it in Shun's recent interview so I thought I'd highlight it.

[Discussing Shun’s first appearance on TV when he was in kindergarten]

Host (H): Did you think you were going to become a celebrity from your first appearance on TV?

Shun (S): Not at all.

H: So when did you start to think, “I wanted to get into the acting industry,”? What was the thing that sparked you off?

S: Well the impetus was that I wanted to meet Uchida Yuki-san. [http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Uchida_Yuki]

H: Just because of that? So you wanted to get into the acting industry because you wanted to meet someone whom you admired?

Fujiki Naohito (N): So did you watch the version of Hana Yori Dango which starred Uchida Yuki? (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Fujiki_Naohito)

S: I bought the video for that version of Hana Yori Dango and watched it.

N: [explaining] Well, in the past (i.e. 1995), Uchida Yuki-chan acted in a version of Hana Yori Dango.

H: Oh, really?

N: And that was my debut movie 12 years ago.

H: Eh???

N: We played the same role. (i.e. Hanazawa Rui!!!)

H: Oh, so you played Hanazawa Rui in the movie version of Hana Yori Dango?

N: Yes, that’s right.

H: I wanna watch that!

[Laughter all around.]

H: Oh, so you guys played the same role. So, Oguri-kun, when you took on the role of Hanazawa Rui, did you use the 1995 movie as a reference?

[Naohito is gesturing cutely here.]

S: Well, to be honest, not at all. [Everyone laughs] The context was different, yeah? Compared to the movie version, which was set in a university.

Those HYD fans who are interested to trace its development should check this out for a summary of all the live action series made so far, and also this page for screencaps of 1990's HYD. Tsukushi's hair was styled so that she looked scarily like Hanazawa Rui. Interestingly enough, Fujiki Naohito is a twin in real life.

Fujiki Naohito as Rui Oguri Shun as Rui

Uchida Yuki as Tsukushi Inoue Mao as Tsukushi