Rikidōzan (film)

Rikidōzan is a 2004 South Korean-Japanese film written and directed by Song Hae-sung. The film is based on the life of Rikidōzan, a legendary ethnic Korean professional wrestler who became a national hero in Japan in the 1950s. It stars Sol Kyung-gu in the title role, with Miki Nakatani, Tatsuya Fuji, and actual Japanese wrestlers Keiji Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki in the cast.

Cast

 * Rikidōzan/Kim Sin-rak: Sol Kyung-gu
 * Aya: Miki Nakatani
 * Yuzuru Yoshimachi: Masato Hagiwara
 * Keiko Oki: Sawa Suzuki
 * Kōichi Kasai: Tarō Yamamoto
 * Masahiko Kimura: Masakatsu Funaki †
 * Kim Myon-gil: Park Chul-min
 * Kim Il: No Jun-ho
 * Kōkichi Endō: Jun Akiyama †
 * Toyonobori: Muhammad Yone †
 * Harold Sakata: Keiji Mutoh †
 * Azumanami: Shinya Hashimoto †
 * Ben Sharpe: Mike Polchlopek †
 * Mike Sharpe: Jim Steele †
 * Mr. Atomic (Clyde Steeves): Rick Steiner †
 * Wrestler: Makoto Hashi †
 * Wrestler: Go Shiozaki †
 * Wrestler: Koji Yoshida
 * Wrestler: Chikara Momota
 * Announcer: Shigeru Kajiwara
 * Interviewer: Masami Ogishima
 * NTV President: Shinji Nomura
 * Nishonoyama Oyakata: Kazuyuki Senba
 * Kenichi Tamura: Munenori Iwamoto
 * New Havana Club M.C.: Magy
 * Middle-Aged Woman: Rei Okamoto
 * Takeo Kanno: Tatsuya Fuji

† denotes an actual professional wrestler

Reception
Sol Kyung-gu gained 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) for the role and also delivered 95% of his lines in Japanese. Despite winning great praise for his performance, however, the film vastly underperformed in the box office on its local release, with total admissions at 1,249,794.

Nevertheless, Rikidozan was recognized at the 42nd Grand Bell Awards, winning Best Director for Song Hae-sung, and Best Cinematography for Kim Hyung-koo.