US actress to play ‘mother of Japanese whisky’
US actress Charlotte Kate Fox has been named as the female lead of Massan – a Japanese TV series charting the lives of Rita Cowan and Masataka Taketsuru, founders of Japan’s whisky industry.
US actress Charlotte Kate Fox will play Rita Cowan – the ‘mother of Japanese whisky’ – in a new mini-seriesTokyo producers for channel NHK TV have spent the last few months searching for an actress to play Jessie Roberta “Rita” Cowan, a Scottish-born woman who was a key figure in the development of Japan’s whisky industry, along with her husband Taketsuru.
The pair met in Glasgow in 1918 when Taketsuru stayed with Cowan’s family while attending Glasgow University.
They controversially married in 1920 and moved to Japan in 1921 where they began importing whisky and later created their own distillery, called the Nikka Whisky Distilling Company.
Casting directors were reported to be looking for a European-looking woman to play Cowan who could speak both English and Japanese and also had a “brilliant” singing voice.
Fox, 28, will be the first Caucasian actress to be cast in a leading role by the network and was reportedly competing against 500 other who auditioned for the part.
The 150 15-minute episodes of Massan will begin airing in September until March of next year.
Although based on a true story, the series has been described by producers as having “fictional and humorous twists”.
Japanese actor Tetsuji Tamayama will play the role of Taketsuru.
Masataka Taketsuru and Rita Cowan
