"658km, Yoko's Journey" Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri A life that could have been for me [Director's Interview Vol.336]

Working with Rinko Kikuchi for the first time in 20 years

Q: It's amazing to see how Kikuchi Rinko changes little by little through just one day of hitchhiking. What kind of story did she tell?

Kumakiri: I gave her some information in advance about the backstory that Yoko has gone through that is not depicted in the film. If there was anything she was curious about, she asked me questions and I answered them, but we didn't have a lot of conversations. She understood what kind of character I was trying to portray from the beginning. It's strange, but even though it was our first time working together in over 20 years, we just clicked on the first day (laughs). We communicated with each other in perfect harmony.

When we shot "Sora no Ana" (2001) 20 years ago, Kikuchi-san didn't have much experience yet, and he spoke in a mumbling voice that was hard to understand. At the time, the recording department said, "We can't pick up the lines like this!" (laughs). I thought it was really funny, but since it was the first film and I didn't know anything about technology, I re-shot it by saying, "Speak as loud as you can." But this time, I wanted to do it properly. I asked him to do that mumbling again, saying that I would pick up the lines no matter what. This time, the recording engineer was the same as back then, so I asked him from the beginning, "Please pick up Kikuchi's way of speaking no matter what!"

"658km, Yoko's Journey" ©2022 "658km, Yoko's Journey" Production Committee

Q: The father, played by Joe Odagiri, appears to be the same age as Yoko. Was that decided from the script stage?

Kumakiri: I think the idea of ​​traveling with the vision of one's father was not in Muroi's original script, but was my wife's idea. Having one's father appear as he was 20 years ago, as he left an impression on me, is quite cruel in a way, but I thought it would make an interesting film.

Q: Odagiri was really into that.

Kumakiri: For some reason, I had an image of Odagiri-kun in mind from the beginning. Since he was Kikuchi-san's father, I wanted someone who wasn't too old-manly and a little handsome. Odagiri-kun's carefree personality and the image of a father always smoking a cigarette with a grin on his face overlapped, so my wife and I had said from the script stage that Odagiri-kun would be a good choice.

Casting the people you meet