‘Drops of God’ U.S.-Franco-Japanese Manga Adaptation Begins Production (EXCLUSIVE)
Filming has begun on multinational, multi-lingual TV series “Drops of God,” which is adapted from the best-selling Japanese manga series “Kami, no Shizuku.” Set in the worlds of wine and gastronomy, the series is backed by Legendary Television, Dynamic Television and the Nippon Television-owned Hulu Japan and produced with Adline Entertainment
The story involves a woman who discovers that her estranged father has left her the world’s greatest wine collection in his will. But, to claim her inheritance she must compete against a Japanese man who her father regarded as a son and may have been more.
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<img class="size-medium wp-image-1235046740" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?w=300" alt=". - Credit: Credit: Tadashi Agi Shu Okimoto Kodansha" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg 1000w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=150,84 150w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=125,70 125w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=681,383 681w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=450,253 450w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Drops-of-God-Credit_cTadashi-Agi-Shu-Okimoto-_-Kodansha-lcr-res.jpg?resize=250,140 250w" sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px" />Credit: Tadashi Agi Shu Okimoto Kodansha
The series is based on the manga written by Yuko and Shin Kibayashi with artwork by Okimoto Shu and published by Kodansha. The adapted screenplay was written by Quoc Dang Tran (Netflix’s “Marianne,” Disney Plus “Parallel”), and is directed by Oded Ruskin (Amazon’s “Absentia,” Hulu’s “No Man’s Land”), and produced by Dynamic’s Klaus Zimmermann (“Borgia,” “Trapped”).
Only two cast members have been disclosed: Fleur Geffrier (“Elle”) as the woman, and Yamashita Tomohisa (“The Head,” The Man from Toronto”) as the Japanese man. Filming on location will take place in France, Italy, and Japan.
The eight episode, one-hour series is a co-venture between Legendary Television, Dynamic Television, France Televisions and Hulu Japan, and in partnership with Adline Entertainment.
Legendary Television, a division of Legendary Entertainment, is handling worldwide sales for all territories except France and Japan. Hulu Japan will premiere the series exclusively in Japan simultaneously with the world premiere.
“Legendary Television’s global division strives to bring the quality genre and character-driven content that Legendary is known for to local language projects,” said Anne Thomopoulos, Legendary Television. “ ‘Drops of God’ is the perfect opportunity to expand these efforts into France and Japan, adding to our existing development and production slate that already has projects underway in the U.K., Spain, and Mexico, among other territories.”
“When we first heard about the adaptation of ‘Drops of God’ with one of the two leads being French and the story taking place not only in Tokyo but also in France, we were thrilled with the innovative idea,” said Nagasawa Kazufumi, MD & chief content officer, Hulu Japan. Hulu Japan, which Nippon TV bought in 2014, and which today also includes Toho and Yahoo Japan as minority shareholders, has previously worked on international co-productions including “Miss Sherlock” with HBO and “The Head” with Media Pro Studios.
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