“On the Summer Film” Director: Takeshi Matsumoto x Screenplay: Naoyuki Miura The charming characters were born from Ogiri! [Director's Interview Vol.131]

Mifune, Katsushin, Raizo, time travel, and even sparkling romance movies. A new masterpiece of youth film that combines all of these things. That is ``On the Summer Film''. After hearing this far, I'm confused and wondering what kind of movie this is all about, but it turns out to be surprisingly interesting, and the love for movies that overflows from the work makes my heart warm.

The characters that make up such a movie are full of lovable people. In particular, Marika Ito, who plays the lead role, shines brightly, like a muse for a new generation.

How did they create this unlikely masterpiece of a youth film? We spoke to director Takeshi Matsumoto and Naoyuki Miura, who wrote the screenplay.

Index

• Plot developed at sauna training camp
  
• Characters revealed in Ogiri
  
• “Hadashi” created by Marika Ito
• No-frills details

Plot developed at sauna training camp

Q: It was a lot of fun, with a lot of youth, historical drama, and science fiction, but did the project go smoothly with so many things packed into it?

Matsumoto: It went relatively smoothly. In the proposal, I multiplied various genres such as youth x science fiction x period drama x 〇〇, and people said that was interesting. At the planning stage, there was a lot more going on, and although it was an interesting project, I still didn't know if everything would come to fruition.

Q: Were the two of you working on this project? It looks like it will be quite exciting in terms of content.

Matsumoto: That's right. There were four of us, including the two of us, and it was a lot of fun.

Miura: I think I went home excited after the meeting, thinking that this could work.

Q: Which part of the plot was the most exciting?

Matsumoto: I didn't understand why people from the future would come to visit the main characters, such as Mifune and Katsushin, who like historical dramas (lol), so I thought it would be super interesting.

“On the Summer Film” © 2021 “On the Summer Film” Production Committee

Q: Did you all create the plot and then Mr. Miura worked on the script?

Miura: Even after everyone had created the plot, we continued to discuss it with Mr. Matsumoto and others as we shaped it.

Matsumoto: Have a training camp or something.

Miura: That's right. We all stayed over and made it together.

Q: Which training camp did you go to?

Matsumoto: We like saunas, and our first meeting was at a sauna in Ikebukuro, but our training camp was at a sauna attached to a capsule hotel in Tokorozawa.

Q: Sounds like fun. Is there a place like a family room?

Matsumoto: There was a place like a co-working space, and we did it there.