Mao Inoue in novel adaptation movie Youkame no Semi

Actress Mao Inoue (23) has been chosen to star in a movie adaptation of Mitsuyo Kakuta's popular novel "Youkame no Semi." Izuru Narushima is directing the film, scheduled for release in 2011.

Inoue plays Erina, a young woman who was abducted as a baby by her father's mistress Kiwako (Hiromi Nagasaku). Kiwako raises Erina as her own child up until her arrest four years later. Erina grows up but has no place to truly call home, and she ends up carrying on her own affair with a married man and becoming pregnant.

The focus of the story is on the two women Erina and Kiwako. Their supporting cast includes Eiko Koike, Hitori Gekidan, Tetsushi Tanaka, Yoko Moriguchi, and Jun Fubuki. The script is being handled by Satoko Okudera ("Summer Wars"). Filming is expected to wrap up at the end of October.

"Youkame no Semi" was previously adapted as a television drama on NHK earlier this year.

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