Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Interesting facts

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a 1989 Japanese science fiction horror film directed, written, produced, and edited by Shinya Tsukamoto. The film centers on an unnamed Japanese salaryman who wakes up to find pieces of metal sprouting from various parts of his body and becomes haunted by visions of metal-oriented sexual fantasies. As the man steadily becomes a hybrid of man and machine, he develops a connection with a victim from a hit-and-run accident, who is undergoing a similar transformation.

Production

As a child, Tsukamoto read Shōnen Tanteidan and other children's books by Edogawa Ranpo in late grade school and early high school, finding himself interested in what he described as the "dark edges" of the books. He recalled, "I had similar feelings from reading his books as leafing through SM magazines I read when I was in high school." Tsukamoto was also a fan of kaiju series as a child, seeing the Gamera and Godzilla films and the television…

Tsukamoto had performed and directed plays in high school, finding that they were "quite conventional" and that he preferred to do more experimental theatre. Tsukamoto specifically spoke about the work of Jūrō Kara as an influence, whose work often dealt with themes such as matricide and incest. Tsukamoto appreciated working in plays as it led to immediate feedback from audiences, who started out as spectators, who would want to work with him.

Tsukamoto's first work was The Phantom of Regular Size, a short film made with members of his Kaiju Shiata group, about a salaryman whose body eventually turns into scrap metal. The film was shot in less than a week. Among the cast was Tomorowo Taguchi, who had met Tsukamoto when he was performing in a theatre production that Tsukamoto had seen.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man was shot back to back with the short film The Adventure of Denchu Kozo. Among the major changes from his short film work, was changing from 8mm film to 16mm, which would make the film suitable for theatrical presentation. The film was initially going to be made as an additional short film, at about thirty minutes in length.

The film's narrative was built upon his previous short The Phantom of Regular Size, with actors Tomorowo Taguchi, Nobu Kanaoka, and Tsukamoto portraying similar roles to the short. Other actors included Naomasa Musaka and Renji Ishibashi who had worked in major film studios such as Nikkatsu and Toei in the 1970s. Tsukamoto initially sent him a fan letter, and then asked him to appear in the film.

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