Inferno Distribution chose to finance and produce Hachiko’s story because they are interested in making films that raise consciousness and saw the universal appeal of a story of a man and his faithful dog. Producer Bill Johnson says, “When I read the script, I immediately understood the power of the message it could project on a massive amount of people - of loyalty, commitment and unconditional love.” Working on a project with such universal meaning got the cast and crew pondering their personal connections to the story and how this special dog’s example touches their own lives.

Jason Alexander feels this film will go down in history with other classic animal pictures. He says, “Animals sacrifice for love, they possess certain nobility about them that is oftentimes lacking in their human counterparts. Hachiko’s story is important because it has a profound lesson but it doesn’t bang anyone over the head. It is a quiet little story with a lot of texture and is therefore sophisticated in its simplicity. This dog doesn’t have an extraordinary life. Parker doesn’t have an extraordinary life. This man took this dog and just gave it his heart, and the dog received it and returned it, it didn’t save his life or pull anybody from a burning car. There are no heroics here. There is no splash. There is no ‘big’ moment at all. It is just ‘I found you. I get you. And I give myself to you in a way that is real but not terribly flamboyant.’ Right now in my life, that gets me in a very profound way.”

Richard Gere wraps it up nicely saying that Hachiko’s waiting, and what it means to him, is “beyond talking about. It is something you feel very deep in the core of your heart. This sense that there is no beginning, there is no end to this love, that the yearning we feel deepest inside of ourselves is something that fills the universe, and there is something about stories like this, this one in particular, that just touches on that universality in some delicate way that should be mysterious. It shouldn’t relate to description.” The Real Story

In 1924, Hachik was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesamur Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner’s life, Hachik saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Uyeno didn’t return on the usual train one evening. The professor had suffered a stroke at the university that day. He died and never returned to the train station where his friend was waiting.

Hachi was given away after his master’s death, but he routinely escaped, showing up again and again at his old home. After time, Hachi apparently realized that Professor Uyeno no longer lived at the house. So he went to look for his master at the train station where he had accompanied him so many times before. Each day, Hachi waited for Uyeno to return. And each day he didn’t see his friend among the commuters at the station.

The permanent fixture at the train station that was Hachi attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachi and Professor Uyeno together each day. Realizing that Hachi waited in vigil for his dead master, their hearts were touched. They brought Hachi treats and food to nourish him during his wait.
This continued for 10 years, with Hachik? appearing only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station

That same year, another of Ueno’s former students (who had become something of an expert on Akitas) saw the dog at the station and followed him to the Kobayashi home where he learned the history of Hachik’s life. Shortly after this meeting, the former student published a documented census of Akitas in Japan. His research found only 30 purebred Akitas remaining, including Hachik from Shibuya Station.

Ueno’s former student returned frequently to visit the dog and over the years published several articles about Hachik?’s remarkable loyalty. In 1932 one of these articles, published in Tokyo’s largest newspaper, threw the dog into the national spotlight. Hachik became a national sensation.

His faithfulness to his master’s memory impressed the people ofJapan as a spirit of family loyalty all should strive to achieve. Teachers and parents used Hachik’s vigil as an example for children to follow. A well-known Japanese artist rendered a sculpture of the dog, and throughout the country a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.

In April 1934, a bronze statue in his likeness was erected at Shibuya Station, and Hachik? himself was present at its unveiling (Hachik died on March 8, 1935). The statue was recycled for the war effort during World War II. After the war, Hachik was not forgotten. In 1948 The Society for Recreating the Hachik Statue commissioned Takeshi Ando, son of the original artist who had since died, to make a second statue.

The new statue, which was erected in August 1948, still stands and is an extremely popular meeting spot. The station entrance near this statue is named “Hachik?-guchi”, meaning “The Hachik Exit”, and is one of Shibuya Station’s five exits. A similar statue stands in Hachik’s hometown, in front of Odate Station. In 2004, a new statue of Hachik? was erected on the original stone pedestal from Shibuya in front of the Akita Dog Museum in Odate.

The 1987 movie Hachik Monogatari told the story of the dog’s life from his birth up until his death and imagined spiritual reunion with his master, the Professor. Considered a blockbuster success, the film was the last big hit for Japanese film studio Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo.

Richard Grere(Parker,Producer)

Humanitarian, actor, and Golden Globe winner, Richard Gere is known for his roles in such films as Chicago, Unfaithful, An Officer and a Gentleman, Days of Heaven, American Gigolo, Pretty Woman, and Primal Fear. Gere recently finished filming Fox Searchlight’s Amelia, opposite Hilary Swank and Ewan McGregor. Amelia tells the story of Amelia Earhart and her tumultuous relationship with her husband/editor, George Putnam (played by Gere). He will next appear in Brooklyn’s Finest alongside Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke. Brooklyn’s Finest chronicles the lives of three Brooklyn cops who find their worlds intersecting when they all arrive at the same fatal location.

His 2008 release, Nights in Rodanthe, is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks and reunites him with Diane Lane. Nights tells the story of a man who, while on a journey to reconcile with his estranged son, checks into a North Carolina inn and begins a life-altering romance with a woman who is burdened with the decision of whether or not to stay in an unhappy marriage. In the fall of 2007, Gere was seen in the critically acclaimed film I’m Not There; a film that provides a view into the life and songs of the legendary Bob Dylan as told through seven-characters. The all-star cast includes Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and the late Heath Ledger.

Born in Philadelphia, Richard Gere showed his artist ability at a young age, by playing a number of instruments and writing music for high school productions. Gere won a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he was a philosophy major. While at school, Gere caught the acting bug and left college after 2 years to pursue acting, landing the lead role of ‘Danny Zuko’ in the London production of the rock musical “Grease” in 1973. After spending full sessions with the Provincetown Playhouse and Seattle Repertory Theatre, he performed in a number of New York plays, notably the title role in Richard Farina: Long Time Coming and Long Time Gone, in addition to two plays by Sam Shepard, Back Bog Beast Bait and Killers Head.

Gere’s motion picture debut came in 1978 with Oscar-honored Days of Heaven, for which he received the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award. His subsequent films include Looking for Mr. Goodbar with Diane Keaton, Blood Brothers, John Schlesinger’s Yanks, and American Gigolo. His next film was the 1982 blockbuster An Officer and a Gentleman, followed by Breathless, Beyond the Limit, The Cotton Club, Power, No Mercy, and Miles From Home.Off screen, Gere is an accomplished pianist and music writer. He is also actively involved in developing projects and has executive produced Final Analysis, Mr. Jones, and Sommersby these regions.

Gere currently lives in New York with his wife Carey Lowell and their son Homer.

Sony Picture Home Entertainment
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