Actor Keisuke Koide has been given his first leading role in a film. He will star in "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru," based on a novel by Shion Miura about a group of college students aiming to challenge the Hakone Ekiden, a long-distance relay race. His co-star will be young actor Kento Hayashi.

Koide plays the captain of his school's team, while Hayashi plays a talented freshman runner. Their team is an amateurish bunch - including a manga otaku, an exchange student from Africa, and a bar exam candidate - but they never give up.

Koide and Hayashi have been going through hard physical training since July. Filming is scheduled to start in mid-December, and the movie has been tentatively set for a November 2009 release. Sumio Omori is directing.

A stage version of "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru" starring Masato Wada will begin performances in January. The story has also been adapted by Sorata Unno as a manga series, currently running in Young Jump.

- Tokyograph