L/R15 “Nano Ai” “The cat ran away” Hideo Josada × Rikiya Imaizumi The fun of changing the script I wrote [Director's Interview Vol.195]

Remote joint audition

Q: Both of the films have wonderful casts. How were they decided? In particular, the appearance of Seto Koji was surprising, looking back at the films he has appeared in so far. 

Joji: The script for "Love is what it is" required a comedy along the lines of "What will happen when a boring middle-aged man gets proposed to by a high school girl?" So in that sense, Seto Koji is too handsome no matter how you look at it. So I was a little worried at first, but there's no point in trying to make him look uncool, so I went ahead and shot it thinking that this was the right balance. When it was over, I felt like "No one else could play this role except Seto!" Well, that's always the case.

Imaizumi: Is that how you can cook (direct) anyone's food to their liking?

Joji: No, that's not the case (laughs).

Imaizumi: When I heard that Seto Koji would be appearing, I was like, "Where is Seto from?" (laughs) On the other hand, many of the female actors were chosen through auditions.

Joji: Yes, it was a joint audition. It was a remote audition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Imaizumi: I don't usually get to see auditions that other directors do, so it was really interesting to watch Jyojo's choice of cast and acting. The characters in the script I wrote and the characters Jyojo is trying to create are already different when I have them act in the audition. If it were me, I would have been like, "I wouldn't do that." I was already excited from that point on, and there was a mysterious atmosphere. I always try to make it more realistic, but the acting Jyojo wanted from the characters was a bit more fictional. That's what I thought when I was watching the audition.

“The cat ran away” ©2021 “The cat ran away” Film Partners

Q: Since it was a joint audition, did the participants have any preferences for the work they wanted to appear in?

Joji: That's right. We asked for people to join just the Imaizumi group, just the Joji group, or both.

Imaizumi: There were times when I thought, "That person wants to appear in Jyojo-san's role, it looks good," or "But there's no role that suits this one." But there were quite a few people who participated in both. After I narrowed it down to about four people online, I had the four of them take turns playing Ako and The Truth, and we had them act like a workshop. I was really undecided until the end, but in the end, I'm glad we chose these two (Ako: Yamamoto Nairu, Mamiko: Teshima Miyu).

Joji: Not all of them were auditioned. Seto-san was cast.

Imaizumi: There were a lot of male cast members.

Joji: The female cast, like Sato-san, was kind of half-cast.

Q: Speaking of the cast, Kawai Yumi was also wonderful.

Jyojo: Mr. Kawai and Mr. Seto were so good at creating that kind of distance between them that it didn't seem unpleasant at all. When I first read the script, I thought it would be difficult.

Imaizumi: They're two people with such sex appeal that it wouldn't be strange for them to have any kind of relationship. I think he played the role well.

A crappy second role