Background:

Japanese producer Taka Ichise, sometimes also credited as Takashige Ichise, is best known for producing the successful Japanese horror film “Ring” (1998), directed by Hideo Nakata, as well as the Takashi Shimizu “Ju On” film series. He also produced the booming American remake “The Grudge” (2004), starring Sarah Michele Gellar, and its sequels, “The Grudge 2” (2006) and “The Grudge 3” (2009).
     

Kobe

Childhood and Family:

 Taka Ichise was born on January 18, 1961, in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.


The Grudge

Career:

Taka Ichise entered the show biz in 1981 when he directed the Japanese short “Risoukyou densetsu.”  His producing career began four years later with a music/comedy movie called “Hoshikuzu kyôdai no densetsu” (1985), which was directed and written by Macoto Tezuka. He went on to executive produce the films “Yumemiru yôni nemuritai” (1986), “Seirei no sasayaki” (1987) and Akio Jissoji's “Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis” (1988) as well as produce the based on book “Teito taisen” (1989), which also marked his feature film directing debut.

In 1990, Ichise ventured to the small screen by directing the TV series “ Yonimo kimyô na monogatari,” but it became his last directing gig to date. He instead chose to focus on producing. During the 1990s, Ichise produced or executive produced such films as “Shushoku sensen ijonashi” (1991), “A Watcher in the Attic” (1993), “Necronomicon: Book of Dead” (1993), “ American Yakuza” (1993), for which he also contributed to story, and “Blue Tiger” (1994), an action/thriller directed by Norberto Barba and starring Virginia Madsen, in which he also served as story contributor,  “Edogawa Rampo gekijo: Oshie to tabisuru otoko” (1994). In 1995, Ichise made his American debut as an executive producer with the action movie “Fist of the North Star” (1995), which was directed by Tony Randel  and starring Gary Daniels, Malcolm McDowell and Costas Mandylor. The same year, he also  executive produced the Frank A. Cappello action/crime film “No Way Back,” starring Russell Crowe, Helen Slater and Etsushi Toyokawa, and the Fantasporto Award nominating action/crime movie  “Crying Freeman,”  helmed by Christophe Gans. Between 1966 and 1997, Ichise executive produced the TV film “Back to Back,” which was directed by Roger Nygard and starred Michael Rooker, Ryo Ishibashi and Danielle Harris, and the film “Drive,” directed by Steve Wang, as well as produced  “Countdown,” a crime/mystery movie directed and written by Keoni Waxman and starring Yûki Amami, Lori Petty and Jason London, and the Japanese based on book film “Lie lie Lie.”

Ichise had a huge commercial success when he produced the Japanese horror film “Ring” (1998), directed by Hideo Nakata. Adapted from the Kôji Suzuki novel of the same name, the film emerged as the highest grossing film in Japan upon its release, with $137.7 million gross against a budget of $1.2 million. “Ring” also received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Also in 1998, Ichise produced “Rasen” (aka. “Spiral”), the sequel to “Ring,” but the film received poor response. 1998 also saw him produce the films “Murder on D Street” and “Beat.” Ichise returned in 1999 with “Ring 2” (1999), a new sequel to “Ring” that was not based on the work of Suzuki. “Ring 2” was also directed by Hideo Nakata. In 1999, Ichise also produced the film “Sing yuet tung wa.”

Opening the new millennium, Ichise produced “Ring 0: Birthday” (2000), a prequel to the film “Ring,” which was directed by Norio Tsuruta, based on a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi. He also produced Takashi Shimizu's “Ju-on: The Curse” and “ Ju-on: The Curse 2” (both 2000), “Hakkyousuru kuchibiru” (2000), “ Chi wo sû uchû” (2001), “Bat sei ching mai” (2001), “The Princess Blade” (2001), “Dark Water” (2002),  a reunion with director Hideo Nakata, “Koi ni utaeba” (2002) and “ Last Scene” (2002).   

Ichise enjoyed another success when he produced the Japanese horror film “Ju-on: The Grudge,” which was directed and written by Takashi Shimizu. The film was released in Japan on January 23,2003. It was followed by the sequel “Ju-on: The Grudge” (2003), which he also produced.
An American remake title “The Grudge,” starring Sarah Michele Gellar and Jason Behr, was released in 2004 to huge commercial success.  Ichise also produced the  remake, as well as its sequel, “The Grudge 2” (2006), starring Amber Tamblyn, Arielle Kebbel and Jennifer Beals.

Between 2004 and 2006,  Ichise also produced other films such as “ Premonition” (2004), “Infection” (2004), “ All About My Dog” (2005), “Reincarnation” (2005), “Inferno” (2005), “Retribution” (2006) and “The Inugamis” (2006) as well as the documentary film “The Kon Ichikawa Story” (2006). He continued to work on “Kaidan” (2007), “Shutter” (2008), an American horror film directed by Masayuki Ochiai and starring Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor and James Kyson, and “Goemon” (2009). In 2009, he produced “The Grudge 3,”   “Ju-on: White Ghost” and “Ju-on: Black Ghost.” 2010-2011 found him producing such films as “Saraba itoshi no daitôryô,” “ Kyôfu,” “My Way Highway,” “Ghist” and “ Happy Together: All About My Dog.”       

Ichise has signed on to produce upcoming movies like “ Nihon rettô ikimonotachi no monogatari” (2012) and “7500.”


Awards:

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