By Travis Johnson
We’re kind of used to big name western stars quietly slinking off to Japan to pocket a few mil for hawking beer or noodles or what-have-you. But there’s another side to foreign celebrity in our Asian neighbour – hundreds of Westerners arrive in Japan every year with the sole aim of getting famous in the pop-culture obsessed country – by whatever means necessary.
Using that as a jumping-off point, Melbourne production outfit Walking Fish have spent two years working on Big in Japan, focusing on three people – Rick “Ladybeard” Magarey, a cross-dressing heavy metal singer from Adelaide, veteran American fighter Bob “The Beast” Sapp, and Canadian pop wannabe Kelsey Parnigoni – to examine the modern meaning of celebrity not just in Japan, but in the wider world.
Part of their project involves trying to get host Dave Elliot-Jones, who describes himself as an ordinary person, on at least the lower rungs of the Japanese fame ladder, and seeing exactly what it takes for a Westerner to put himself in the public eye. To that end, he signed up with foreign talent agencies in Tokyo and appeared in ads, music videos and TV shows, while crafting an online persona, Mr Jonesu, who built an audience through a series of outrageous public stunts.
“It’s a playful meditation on the nature of fame and how far we’re willing to go to become a celebrity,” Elliot-Jones said. “Social media and reality TV culture reinforce the idea that anyone can become a celebrity. We hope to bridge the gap between what we expect fame to be like and the reality of that experience. It’s also just a completely bonkers adventure we had as three mates, and something we’ll probably never do again!”
The team are running a Pozible campaign for completion funds and the sand has almost run out – check it out here.
Expect Big in Japan on VOD and in cinemas from October 2017.
