The love between teacher and student that created ``The Spy's Wife.'' Interview with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Ichi Nohara [Director's Interview Vol.84]

``Kurosawa of the World'' has accomplished yet another great feat. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest film ``The Spy's Wife'' (hereinafter referred to as ``The Spy's Wife'') (released on October 16) won the Silver Lion Award (director's award) at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Noda. Although he has won awards at the Cannes Film Festival in the past, including `` A Journey to the Shore '' (2015) and `` Tokyo Sonata '' (2008), this is his first time at the Venice Film Festival. It also attracted a lot of attention in Japan.

``The Spy's Wife'' was originally a special drama produced by NHK in 8K. It received positive reviews and was released in theaters. The setting is Kobe in 1940. Yusaku (Issei Takahashi), who runs a trading company in Kobe, comes to know a terrifying state secret while working in Manchuria. In the interest of justice, he attempts to reveal the secret, but it means risking his own life.

Meanwhile, Yusaku's wife, Satoko (Yu Aoi), senses that he is hiding something, and although she is anxious, she tries to investigate his movements and uncover the truth. Eventually, Satoko learns what happened and decides to stay with her husband even though he is criticized for being a ``spy's wife.''

Director Kurosawa and The Game Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Ichi Nohara ( Happy Hour ” (15)) golden trio. How did the three of them develop the script and create this story?

The film depicts the love between director Kurosawa and his students, Hamaguchi and Nohara.

Index

• The main premise is to have a script that director Kurosawa will find interesting.
• The female image in “The Spy’s Wife” was influenced by that director.
• I was looking forward to director Kurosawa's "fixes".
• The “love for director Kurosawa” among his successors is unstoppable.
• Director Kurosawa was amazed at the recording club's miracle work.
• Immediately after ``Idaten'', the camera department adjusted to the color of Kurosawa's films.
  
• Hamaguchi and Nohara's respect for director Kurosawa

The main premise is to have a script that director Kurosawa will find interesting.

Q: First of all, congratulations on winning the Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. I have the impression that I watched a very luxurious work in terms of time, images, and of course the story.

Kurosawa/Hamaguchi/Nohara: Thank you.

Q: Can I ask you again about the origins of this project? I heard that originally, it was decided that all three of them would participate, and nothing else was decided other than that the theme would be "Kobe"...

Nohara: That's right. Originally, I started working with Incline's producers to see if it would be possible to create a video work with NHK using 8K, set in Kobe.

Director Kurosawa is also from Kobe, so I approached him even though he was no good. Mr. Hamaguchi was also the scriptwriter, and I made a proposal, and thankfully, everyone agreed, and we started to take concrete steps.

Q: There are two plots prepared by Mr. Nohara and Mr. Hamaguchi. I heard that one of them was ``The Spy's Wife.'' Where did this idea come from?

Hamaguchi: To be honest, I somehow managed to come up with a twist (lol). The main premise was that we couldn't start unless Mr. Kurosawa thought it was interesting. What kind of story should I write to get Mr. Kurosawa interested? I mainly thought about.

The inspiration came from the movie ``1905,'' which Kurosawa had previously planned. Although this movie itself could not be produced, I felt that Kurosawa-san might be interested in a historical drama, or rather, a historical spy drama. Although it is not modern, I think it would definitely work if it was a story about people who are connected to the current era, and 8K would require the drama itself to be scaled, but this is naive in itself. That's the process.

Then, if we were to make it into a historical spy story, what would the "secret" of the spy be? When I researched it, I found out that it was about a film that records secrets of the Japanese military that actually appears in the movie. I have arrived at the testimony.

Although it is currently impossible to confirm the actual product, Mr. Kurosawa has also made films with prewar origins in `` LOFT '' (2004) and `` CURE '' (1997), and if Mr. Kurosawa would have made this film. One of the core ideas was that it might be possible to film this in the movie. It feels like all these things came together one by one and came together like walking a tightrope.

Wouldn't it be more interesting if we added the worldview and texture of Kurosawa's `` Circuit '' (00) and ``CURE'' (97)? While I had these expectations, I approached the idea a bit like walking a tightrope.

Q: Thank you for providing detailed information. Director Kurosawa, what did you think when you read the plot?

Kurosawa: I've always wanted to depict a time when Japan had tense relations with other countries. However, the script was simply extremely interesting. What was interesting was the part where the couple cheated on each other. This is the part I can't figure out.

It's not inconceivable that one could deceive the other, but the relationship is such that the husband hides some secret from his wife, and the wife seeks The Truth and tries to outwit her husband. hey. The wife guides her husband in a certain way, and it was really interesting to see the suspense and melodrama building up in the process.

The female image in “The Spy’s Wife” was influenced by that director.