LOS ANGELES, August 23, 2021 – Legendary Television, Dynamic Television and Hulu Japan announced today the start of production of the new drama series “Drops of God,” based on the international best-selling Japanese manga series 神の雫 (Kami, no Shizuku), written by Yuko and Shin Kibayashi with artwork by Shu Okimoto and published by Kodansha.
The television adaptation of this global sensation finds the world of gastronomy and fine wines in mourning as Alexandre Léger, creator of the famous Léger Wine Guide and emblematic figure in oenology, has just passed away at his home in Tokyo at the age of 60. He left behind a daughter, Camille, who lives in Paris and hasn’t seen her father since her parents separated when she was nine years old. When Camille flies to Tokyo and Léger’s will is read, she discovers that her father has left her an extraordinary wine collection – the greatest collection in the world according to the experts. But, to claim the inheritance, Camille must compete with a brilliant young oenologist, Issei Tomine, who her father took under his wing and is referred to in Léger’s will as his “spiritual son.” But is his connection to Issei only spiritual?
“Drops of God” is written by Quoc Dang Tran (Netflix’s “Marianne,” Disney+ “Parallel”), directed by Oded Ruskin (Amazon’s “Absentia”, Hulu’s “No Man’s Land”), produced by Dynamic’s Klaus Zimmermann (“Borgia,” “Trapped”) and stars Fleur Geffrier (Elle) as Camille and Tomohisa Yamashita (“THE HEAD,” The Man from Toronto) as Issei.
“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 United Kingdom, Spain, and Mexico, among other territories.”
“‘Drops of God’ is truly an international and innovative project that fits Dynamic’s DNA to produce high-quality drama,” says Klaus Zimmermann, producer of “Drops of God” and managing partner at Dynamic Television. “Bringing this story to life with such a fantastic group of partners and talent is exhilarating.”
“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 Kazufumi Nagasawa, Managing Director & Chief Content Officer, Hulu Japan. “Hulu Japan has been working on such international co-productions as ‘Miss Sherlock’ and ‘THE HEAD,’ both of which feature a great combination of unique stories and partners who we can share the vision and ambition with. We are excited to introduce another multi-lingual series with an international cast and that is based on a Japanese manga. We were also fortunate to be able to cast Tomohisa Yamashita, who we previously worked with on ‘THE HEAD,’ where he fascinated the audience with his remarkable performance.”
The eight episode, one-hour series is a co-production between Legendary Television, Dynamic Television, France Televisions and Hulu Japan, and in partnership with Adline Entertainment. Legendary Television is handling worldwide sales for all territories apart from France and Japan. Hulu Japan will be premiering the series exclusively in Japan simultaneously with the world premiere.
“Drops of God” is filming on location in France, Italy, and Japan.
About Legendary Television:
Legendary Television is a leading global full-service television studio specializing in financing, developing and producing quality genre and character-driven projects for multiple platforms. Championing compelling auteur-driven storytelling featuring renowned talent, Legendary’s Television roster includes: the reboot of the classic family adventure series Lost in Space for Netflix; Carnival Row, a fantasy noir drama starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, for Amazon; Pacific Rim: The Black, an original anime series expanding the story of the first two live action movies for Netflix; and Debris, the sci-fi drama from J.H. Wyman and starring Jonathan Tucker and Riann Steele, for NBC. Upcoming projects include: Dune: The Sisterhood, based on one of the most popular science fiction franchises of all time, for HBO Max; Paper Girls, based on Brian K. Vaughan’s best-selling graphic novel, and Lightyears, a one-hour drama series starring Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons, for Amazon; and the anime series Skull Island and Tomb Raider, both for Netflix. To learn more visit: www.legendary.com
About Dynamic Television:
Dynamic Television is an independent production and distribution company with a global strategy to bring premium television programming to worldwide audiences. Dynamic’s series include: just wrapped production for Acorn TV Irish murder mystery “Harry WIld”; “Creepshow,” Shudder’s hit horror anthology series; Netflix’s hottest new show in 2021 “Ginny & Georgia”; the #1 rated teen series from CBBC in the UK, “Almost Never”; “Trapped,” the critically acclaimed Icelandic crime drama from award-winning filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur; “The Day,” the critically acclaimed Flemish heist series; from DR and creator Christian Torpe, the Danish suspense thriller “Deliver Us”; the hit Scandinavian crime procedural “The Sommerdahl Murders”; SYFY’s hit series “Van Helsing” now in production on Season 5; the five-time Emmy nominated series “East Los High” (Hulu); SYFY’s live-action series “Vagrant Queen;” and “Madiba” (BET), a six-part mini-series starring Laurence Fishburne.
About Hulu Japan:
Hulu Japan is one of the leading online SVOD services operated by HJ Holdings, Inc., a majority owned subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corporation (Nippon TV), Japan’s leading commercial broadcaster. Hulu Japan’s extensive content catalogue varies from global hit TV series and feature films to popular International and domestic dramas, animation, documentaries and variety shows, and is also actively working on international co-productions series such as “Miss Sherlock” with HBO Asia and “THE HEAD” with THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO. Originally a fully owned subsidiary of Hulu LLC which launched its Japan service in September 2011, Hulu’s Japan business was acquired by Nippon TV in April 2014. Current shareholders of Hulu Japan include Hulu LLC, Toho Co., Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corporation.
About adline entertainment:
adline entertainment is part of the adline Group. For 20 years, adline Group has been producing content in France, Italy and the UK: providing original programs such as horrors (Darklight) for 13iéme Rue, NBC Universal, music and sounds (Studios Palace), Documentaries (Theofabrica) and feature films as Maestro with AAA. Adline is also involved in LargoFilm, the successful artificial intelligence platform for films. www.adlinegroup.tv
About Kodansha:
One of the largest publishing companies in Japan, Kodansha was founded in 1909 and has a wide range of publishing activities. The company is passionate about its mission to promote reading, and offers multiple literary awards such as the Noma Prize and the Yoshikawa Prize, which recognize talented authors’ contributions to the betterment of publishing culture. www.kodansha.com/