Oct 26 (Japan Today) - U.S. actor Johnny Depp will play the role of war photographer Eugene Smith in the movie "Minamata" about a mercury-poisoning disease that affected thousands of people in Japan, according to local reports.
The movie follows the true story of Smith and his wife Aileen Mioko, who took photos in the 1970s of the southwestern Japan coastal community of Minamata, which was devastated by pollution caused by mercury-tainted water dumped into the sea by chemical maker Chisso Corp.
The dramatic images, later published as a photo-essay, brought the world's attention to Minamata disease, a neurological syndrome.
