The next big role for actress Kyoko Hasegawa is playing the heroine in Max Mannix's "Rain Fall," a movie based on a series of suspense novels by American author Barry Eisler. She is joining a cast that includes Kippei Shiina and British actor Gary Oldman.

Shiina stars as John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American assassin who once worked for the U.S. military. He becomes entangled in a political plot, leading a CIA agent (Oldman) to hunt him down. Hasegawa is taking on an important role as a jazz pianist being pursued by John Rain.

Hasegawa is currently taking lessons in piano, as she will perform the music scenes herself on camera. She first learned piano as a child but stopped by the age of 9, though a year ago she happened to buy an electronic piano and had been playing it since then. However, she stated that she was glad to be playing on a grand piano for the first time in 20 years.

"Rain Fall" is scheduled to open in Japan in April 2009.