Tran Anh Hung (“Cyclo,” “The Scent Of Green Papaya”) has acquired the rights to The Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” for his adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s best-selling novel of the same name.
Tran had originally been planning use of a cover version but now has the original Beatles’ song at his disposal for the flashback-heavy, coming-of-age story centering on student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and his relationship with two women: the beautiful but fragile Naoko (“Babel” actress Rinko Kikuchi) and lively, outgoing Midori (Kiko Mizuhara).
“Using the original song was inevitable due to its importance in the book. I placed it in a very particular place in the film to create a space of memory, for clarification and resonance of the drama that the audience has just experienced,” Tran said of the track, which is often referenced in the story and is the favorite song of Kikuchi’s Naoko character.
The film will also feature original music written by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood based on a composition called “Dogwood” which he recently wrote for the BBC Concert Orchestra. No distributor has picked the film up as of yet though it should likely unspool at the various latter season film festivals.
