MovieChat Forums > Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha (2000) Discussion > Why the same actors?

Why the same actors?

posted 18 years ago by dannyadams-1
10 replies | jump to latest

Just a quick question about why Miike used the same two actors in completely different roles. i cant find the continuity. any thoughts?
Thanks.

[–] HiPlainsDrifter 18 years ago

Their is no continuity,the characters from the film died when Japan was destroyed.I believe miike did this so that the company behind it couldn't make another one but the film became a big hit so miike was pressured into doing a sequel but he did it the miike way,make a sequel that has nothing to do with the original lol

Egypt is soooooo boring,i mean it doesn't even exist.You don't hear DMX rapping about it!

[–] gottdammerung 18 years ago

I don't think that using the same two main actors as the main characters has nothing to do with the original film, especially when one considers the third film and the trilogy as a whole..

Throughout the film, the pair are depicted as being opposites - policeman and yakuza in the first, black and white angels/birds in the second, and robot and state enforcer in the third; the pair finally combining to become a single entity in the third. It's very much a yin-yang thing throughout the trilogy.

[–] petermoranman 18 years ago

It's really not that uncommon. Even Kurosawa did that a few times. If you ignore the fact that it's advertized as a sequel, then you'll notice that alot of American and Japanese (though I can probably name more cases of it in Japan) directors reuse actors they like. It's interesting.

"You are the Duke of New York! You are A # 1!"

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rorz999 17 years ago

It's probably to do with contracts more than anything... the lead actors probably signed on to make 3 films with Miike and/or the studio/production company.

This more commonly happens in Asia than in the west, although it is becoming less so

[–] LeCeche 16 years ago

There were definitely allusions to the first film (and perhaps even the third but I haven't seen it yet).

The two that stick out in my mind is when Mizuki generates a cinder block from behind his back and uses it as a weapon to knock out the gangman leader in the beginning just like he does with the rocket launcher at the end of the first one and also how the turtle character he plays for the children has a bionic left arm. (He rips off his left arm in the first one and in the last one I believe he is a cyborg of some sorts, so this reference may tie all 3 films together.) Also of note, is how Shu's character first appears killing gangmembers and he himself has no idea why. This is also how he was introduced in the original, albeit with a motive for his actions.

I'm sure there are other references, but those are the ones that stuck out the most for me having only seen both films once. What the relevance of them are is hard to say. With Miike, you never know.

[–] Strazdamonas 16 years ago

I believe it has to do with the fact that its hard to find good actors for such budgets, and those two fits good.

[–] Pickleforkk 16 years ago

This is an extremely common thing in asian film - sequels often contain the same actors but the story is often completely different, albeit usually in a similar spirit to the original.

[–] Kinematico 16 years ago

well some directors just like to work with the same actors again and again. Miike and Aikawa, for instance, have worked together countless times.

[–] frankdelaney 15 years ago

They aren't differant roles. It just seems that way.