Keanu Reeves’ stop-motion samurai film “Hidari” needs a new financing partner after talks with a U.S. company collapsed over who would own it. Producer Matsumoto Noriko of Japan’s Dwarf Studios told the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market on Sunday that the company had offered to fund the full budget in exchange for all rights.
Matsumoto said the offer came with respect for Dwarf’s creativity and enough money, but would have stripped the studio of control over an original project. Dwarf wanted to keep half the rights and asked Ibe, of the company Questry, to find the Japanese share. The negotiations ended after the people Matsumoto had been dealing with lost their jobs amid upheaval in Hollywood.
Reeves’ name has not been enough to close the gap. “Even with Keanu, we cannot stop the fire,” Matsumoto said. She said she is giving up on co-production but not on finding collaborators.
Questry has built a vehicle to attract funders. It set up a special purpose company for the film so that overseas and local investors can put money in side by side. Ibe said the project shows why development money matters, since Dwarf made a pilot short in 2023 at its own risk, partly through crowdfunding. Questry now wants to back pilots and development work, which Japanese studios and creators usually pay for themselves.
The pilot proved its worth. The short collected nearly 5 million YouTube views and became the base for a feature directed by Masashi Kawamura. Reeves signed on in May as the lead voice, announced at the Annecy Animation Showcase during Cannes. He said he was thrilled by the vision behind the project. Whatever Co., Dwarf and Tecarat produce, and the story follows a samurai on a journey of revenge that pulls him into a larger conspiracy.
Kawamura said “John Wick” was one of the films his team referenced in developing the pilot and script, and that Reeves was first on his personal wish list.
The delay carries a cost. Stop-motion is a slow format, and the process will likely stretch production over a long period. Dwarf has not named a replacement partner, a budget or a release window, and the Busan pitch suggests the studio is still weighing what share of control it will give up.
