"Village" Director Michito Fujii's origin of the movie and sense of crisis for the future [Director's Interview Vol.307]

Kawamura P's sense of choosing Nohgaku against the argument that entertainment is unnecessary

Q: I heard that Mr. Kawamura had been thinking of Mr. Yokohama as the lead role from the beginning, but other social-minded actors such as Masaki Suda from “ Ah, Wilderness ” (17) and Tori Matsuzaka from “ The Journalist ” Mr. Fujii said that it has the characteristic of colliding with other works. How do you view your skills as a producer, including that part?

Fujii: I think it's all about business sense. He also worked in the publishing business and was very good at reading the times. I knew about Ryuto Sakuma, who appeared in ``Village,'' from an early stage, and his research skills are extremely high. It's been about half a year since Mr. Kawamura passed away, but when I think of him, I get the impression that he met a lot of people. He called a lot of people and was interested in a lot of things. There was a rush of thinking, "Who do I want for this cast? Okay, okay, let's go talk about it," and he was the type of person who would think things through before he laid things out, which I thought was cool as a person.

Most people tend to freak out and bash Ishibashi and say, ``I can't do this, I can't do that.'' But Mr. Kawamura was the exact opposite.

“Village” ©️2023 “Village” Production Committee

Q: Your human resource research is amazing, and your ideas are original...

Fujii: Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and people saying that entertainment is no longer needed, I thought it was amazing how they returned to Noh, Japan's oldest performing art.

Q: Was the idea of ​​``comparing a certain village to a microcosm of Japan'' something you had from the beginning?

Fujii: Mr. Kawamura seems to have wanted to do a proper village thing, but since I'm a city boy at heart, that was impossible (lol). He said something like, ``I can't use a Japanese-style toilet!'' (laughs)

However, I had some thoughts about the uneven society, and even before I started directing, I told Mr. Kawamura, ``I filmed 'Village' thinking it was a microcosm of Japanese society,'' and he said, ``I feel the same way.'' I think he said, ``I'm doing it.''

In Japan, there is no flow of new directors into the entertainment industry.