Takashi Miike, the director best known for freaky horror films like Audition and One Missed Call, is going to channel Michel Gondry with a lighthearted romantic comedy that adapts a prize-winning novel by Shinji Kimoto. In God's Puzzle, a young slacker agrees to attend his identical twin's college classes for him. And then the twins (played by Hayato Ichihara) end up teaming up with a brilliant dropout (Mitsuki Tanimura) in a scheme to unlock the secrets of everything and create a whole new universe. Click through for more pics, and the secrets of the film's genesis.

Here's how producer Haruki Kadokawa describes his decision to make the film:

Speaking to reporters at Nikkatsu on Friday, Kadokawa said he first read the 2002 novel while in prison on drug charges and that, though the theme seemed heavy, he saw 'a strong comic element in the material' that he plans to underline with 'a large helping of CG effects'.

[First Showing]

11:06 AM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
1,618 views
10 comments

Comments

Plague at 11:10 AM on 03/26/08
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Miike is god.
mitchel_stevens at 11:11 AM on 03/26/08
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so from crows: zero to django to...Andromeda-lite?
Guizzy at 11:41 AM on 03/26/08
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Ah, come on! Let's not list One Missed Call as one of Miike's most representative works. It ain't bad, but Miike is far more recognised for his freaky yakuza/just plain freaky movies than his horror movies.

But I'm somewhat worried that Miike might be shifting a bit too much towards kids movies. Take Zebraman, for instance.
etho at 11:43 AM on 03/26/08
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Spiffy. Miike is not really a reliably good director, but his good ones are the only ones that ever really get big outside of Japan. And his good ones are amazing.

He's definitely at his best when he's being weird, and this sounds weird enough for me.
Einstein-Intersection at 11:44 AM on 03/26/08
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On the off chance that any Miike Fan here hasn't seen it already, I'd like to recommend "The Happiness of the Katakuris". Classic dark family comedy by Miike. One of his many awesome direct to video works. [www.imdb.com]
Plague at 11:49 AM on 03/26/08
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@Einstein-Intersection:
Which is a remake of the equally good (but in no way similar in treatment) to "The Quiet Family".
Einstein-Intersection at 11:51 AM on 03/26/08
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@Plague:

Cool. I'll definitely have to try to check that out.
Garrison Dean, King... at 04:15 PM on 03/26/08
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Connectedness Index: 140

Its all fun and games until the girl whips out the String Theory and starts taking legs off.
Gospel X at 05:21 PM on 03/26/08
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@Plague: No, Miike is good.
Quadratus at 11:54 PM on 03/26/08
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So what this guy essentially says is "We will take this story, throw in some funny and use CGI like it's candy on a Halloween night." Oh dear.