Sion Sono casting his next movie via Youtube auditions

I’m not the biggest Sion Sono fan in the world, but I generally respect the man and his work, even if he did ask my not-yet-girlfriend to marry him back when she was a minor. That’s totally not cool, dude.

Anyways, for his upcoming film, an adapation of the manga Tokyo Tribes by Inoue Santa, Sono has decided to cast his new film through the wonders of the internet. Because I don’t actually speak or understand Japanese, I’m trusting the fine people at Twitch to not be yanking my chain when they say these videos over at the official Tokyo Tribe Youtube page are, in fact, a call for actors. This wouldn’t be the first time actors and actresses have been found through Youtube, but I don’t think anybody has done anything quite like this before, certainly not someone who is a relatively big name (at least in his own country).

Given the internet’s massive reach, this could either be a great idea or a terrible one, depending on how many people hear about the plan and decide to audition. It’s entirely possible he will find some perfect amateur or semi-professional actors that would have never come in for an official audition, and that would be awesome. And if Tokyo Tribes is his best film yet, maybe this Youtube audition thing will spread and eventually destroy casting agencies as we know them.