Tokyo Vice, the HBO Max crime series directed by Michael Mann (Collateral), has added more actors to its cast. Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) was already confirmed as the series main protagonist, along with other previously announced members of the cast like Ken Watanabe (Inception), Rachel Keller (Legion), Ella Rumpf (Raw), and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel). Now, new additions to the cast include the Japanese actors Hideaki Ito (Brave Hearts: Umizaru), Shô Kasamatsu (Demekin), and Tomohisa Yamashita (The Head).
Written by Tony Award-winning playwright J.T. Rogers, Tokyo Vice stars Elgort in the shoes of American journalist Jake Adelstein, whose 2009 memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan inspired the creation of the series. The show chronicles Adelstein’s experiences with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police as he descends into the underbelly of Tokyo life, unveiling corruptions and illegality among the city’s criminal yakuza organizations.
Kikuchi will play a Japanese journalist, while Watanabe and Ito will appear as Tokyo police detectives, Kasamatsu will play a Chihara-Kai yakuza family member, and Yamashita will portray Akira, a professional host who hides more than what meets the eye. Additional cast members include Sugata Shun as the leader of Chihara-kai, Hagiwara Masato as the manager of the upscale hostess club, and Tanida Ayumi as the leader of the Tozawa-gumi crime group.
Mann directs the pilot episode of the 10-episode long series and is also executive producing. Also directing is Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Endeavor Content is handling the series worldwide distribution while Japan’s WOWOW is taking local rights and co-producing. Tokyo Vice will be available for streaming exclusively on HBO Max in early 2022. WOWOW will be in charge of airing the series in Japan next spring.