On performing Aoyagi
I'm sure there are many people who feel like Aoyagi. So, rather than creating a character, I worked on facing Aoyagi, thinking about what I would do if I were in the same situation.
I approached as if I were Aoyagi, I would have this kind of expression on my face, or I might make this kind of choice. The fact that I was able to perform the role while making use of my own reactions must mean Aoyagi has elements of "ordinariness" which apply to every real person. Playing Aoyagi, I thought it was really difficult to perform an ordinary role. He doesn't have any outstanding characteristics or archetype. But real people are not that simple or easy to understand.
Aoyagi has a suspicion following him, but I thought that it'd be better to prioritize the emotions that come out in him at the atmosphere of each scene, instead of leaning on that suspicion. If I were conscious of it, I might rely on and end up expressing differently.
About Shinobu Terajima (Kasukabe)
Tori: She really cares for Aoyagi, but she steps into people's lives as close as Soeda does.
Q: You two had a one shot breathtaking scene. The director said he didn't originally intend to make a single cut, but the two of you were so amazing.
Tori: Even if we shot it again, we might not create the same level of intensity. So it was just made one-cut. Dir. Yoshida's set is usually very cheerful, but this scene was very tense. There was so much chaos in atmosphere that I don't know which tension to compare it to. We probably rehearsed that scene 3-4 times, but we filmed this in 2020 spring, when the first state of emergency was about to be declared. We were under a huge pressure of not being able to return so I honestly have no memory.
Tori: At first glance, Kasukabe is very nice, but if you provoke her, she seems to get a little violent. It was like an inflated balloon that bursts when it hits something sharp. (lol)
About Arata Furuta (Soeda)
Tori: Both Terajima's Kusakabe and Furuta's Soeda had terrifying intensity and were really scary. They had different kinds of scares, but ...... they were both scary (lol). Kasukabe seems nice but Soeda, on the other hand, would be quite powerful. Furuta-san is amazing, isn't he? Soeda in the movie is very strong. There's a scene where he's standing straight up outside a supermarket, and just standing there is scary. It's like silent violence (lol). Furuta-san likes to drink. There is a scene where Soeda is waiting for Aoyagi. When I come out of the locked supermarket, he was drinking a can of beer. I couldn't tell in the short period of time whether the beer can was a part of his character's preparation (lol).
About Director Keisuke Yoshida
Q: The power of actors can be felt in this film. When I saw Dir. Yoshida on the set of this film, I could see that he has a lot of trust in his actors, even in scenes with detailed emotions that require many takes. He is also very precise.
Tori: He's a happy-go-lucky guy, but he really understands the performance in a very delicate way and cheerfully tells us things like, "Let's make the intensity a little lower than it is right now," or "Let's try something with a little more anger. So I can challenge him positively by saying, "Well, I'll try it like this next time," rather than giving him a bad impression.
Text about director's comments on Tori
Q: Dir. Yoshida refers to Matsuzaka-san as a "Reacting Master". He said "During filming, actors asked to do the same thing many times, including tests, so it's natural that I get used to it, but with Tori, no matter how many times I do a take, there's a freshness to it, as if he's hearing my words for the first time. At the same time, he is able to create the character properly." During filming, when it was his turn, the assistant director would say, "Matsuzaka-san, I'll call for you soon." and he'd already be there. I'd asked, "Tori, how long have you been there?" He smiled and said, "I've been there for quite a while". Even when the actress who played the interviewer for the TV show was so nervous about her first movie shooting that she made a mistake, Tori smiled and said, "It's warm today. It was so cold yesterday, right?"
Q: I have the impression in recent years, Tori Matsuzaka has been choosing films that require a lot of commitment, dense and bold. Do you spend more time on each work than before?
Tori: It would be nice if I could, but right now, I want to challenge myself with various works.
Q: I'm sure you've been pushing yourself very hard, especially since you've been able to complete so many difficult projects without additional time.
Tori: Yes, I am. I have to keep pushing myself. I guess I'm like an athlete (lol).
Q: Returning to "Kuhaku, Soeda, who cornered Aoyagi, seems to be a villain, but he is actually a reasonable person. And even Aoyagi has moments when he seems to be the bad guy. The audience is continually shaken. That makes the film very exciting.
Tori: It's really exquisite, right? The way people behave, if they stray from the line even a little, they instantly seem villain. I think that's this film comes from. The same person can be perceived as good or bad depending on how they are viewed and from what perspective. We live in an era where there is a lot of information, that is why I think it is important to be aware of not leaning on one side too much. It's easier to lean on easy-to-understand information, like deciding one side is the villain. I think it's so dangerous.
This film is about an incident, but I think this kind of thing can happen in the most trivial places in our daily lives. With the eyes of the people around us and our own consciousness, we can create truth that should really be one and the same.
While some people overstep into people's lives, some people don't involve with people at all. In between, there are those who want to step in but cannot. What will be the end of this film, which seems a condensation of modern society?
Tori: Lastly, I want to share the words of Dir. Yoshida. He said:
"Aoyagi is a normal person in my opinion, but I think people like that are easily misunderstood since they don't say what they mean even if they have something to say. Nowadays, I feel that the world is becoming more difficult for people like Aoyagi to live in. When an incident like the one in this film is spread on the Internet, people will say whatever they want. The truth is that people who say unproven things are more dangerous. But now there's a tendency that people who don't assert themselves are perceived as worse than those who do. I think, nowadays, in real world, many people are like Aoyagi who can't say what they want, but in the internet, everyone is Soeda. That's what I find strange."
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