In All Greens, one of the three protagonists is obsessed with a 1979 Japanese film called The Man Who Stole the Sun. Director Takashi Koyama took that obsession seriously. He shot his own film's climactic drug deal in Shibuya at the demolished location from that same film.
The connection runs deeper. The fictional hometown where the three girls are trapped, Tokai-mura, sits near the same nuclear facilities that run through The Man Who Stole the Sun. Koyama built the tribute at two levels: on the page, and at the location itself.
Sara Minami, known for playing model students, was cast against everything audiences expected. Koyama wanted what he described as "empty hopelessness behind the eyes." Nobody had asked her for that before.
The source novel won a major prize. The author was 21 when he wrote it. People on Backlot are watching this one.
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