| Kōki Mitani | |
| Birth Date: | 8 July 1961 |
| Birth Place: | Setagaya, Tokyo |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Occupation: | Playwright, screenwriter, actor, film director |
is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after Taihō Kōki, the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon University.
In an attempt to add his own character to his movies, his directorial approach follows a "one scene = one shot" system, whereby he pans the camera around as opposed to cutting. He claims this comes from his experience in theatre, where there are no cuts. Mitani does not use a computer.[1]
Mitani liked watching TV dramas and puppetries of NHK in his childhood. He was especially interested in works of puppetry such as "Shin Hakkenden" and Sangokushi, jidaigeki dramas such as Tenka Gomen and Tenka Dōdō, and Taiga dramas such as Kaze to Kumo to Niji to.[2]
Throughout his life, he has expressed interest in works starring famous detectives, such as the Sherlock Holmes series.[3] [4] He has collected numerous novel volumes, pastiches, and DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes, and in 2014 adapted the story into a puppetry set in a boarding school. In his high school days, he planned to produce a film featuring a detective, loosely based on And Then There Were None, and went on location to Enoshima, Kanagawa with his friends, though this film was never finished.[3]
Mitani has also stated that he enjoys foreign cinema, and is a fan of the films 12 Angry Men, The Wages of Fear, Columbo, and the director Billy Wilder. He has mentioned how he believes Hollywood comedy films are not as funny as those in the Golden Age and as Japanese comedy improves.[1]
Mitani's work has primarily comprised witty comedies which are often parodies. In production, he usually writes scripts visualizing actors and actresses as close to the characters. Mitani is the author of a weekly column in the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper in which he often discusses his favorite films, his writing process, and the actors and actresses with whom he has worked.
(Note: Many of Mitani's films began as successful plays.)