The gap in UTA gives rise to the cruelty of the story.
—As the second half of the story unfolds, the nature of your relationship becomes clearer. What inspired you in each other, and what were the highlights of your collaboration?
*The following contains spoilers regarding the story.
Aoi:UTA-kun’s portrayal of the Gas Man really helped everyone out. It was a tough eight months on set, but he approached it with a fresh perspective and enjoyed the experience, so whenever UTA-kun came around, it felt like a breath of fresh air. In terms of his acting, by clearly establishing the contrast between “Uncle Ren”—with his boyish, sparkling eyes—and the Gas Man, he really brought out the cruelty of the story. I think that was a huge contribution on UTA’s part, and I believe everyone was also uplifted by his demeanor on set. We have a LINE group for this movie, and he’d even suggest things like, “Let’s have a barbecue!”
UTA: I really want to see you all (laughs). For me, every day was a learning experience—it was a set where I could gain new insights and learn new things—but above all, the scenes where I acted face-to-face with the young Kyoko and the adult Kyoko (played by Ms. Aoi) were the most frequent. I was very conscious of the need to really take in how my senior actors switched gears between takes and how they got into character.
In Episode 7, there’s a scene where Mori (played by Yutaka Takenouchi), Kyoko (played by Aoi), and the Gas Man all appear together. After something happens in that scene, there’s this incredible moment where Kyoko snaps back to reality. When Aoi was screaming, even though she’s supposed to be the Gas Man and shouldn’t move a muscle, her shoulder twitched for a split second (laughs). The way her voice came out was so different—it was so terrifying that I was startled and got goosebumps. It really drove home just how real this was. And to think we were just chatting about mom stuff in the green room right up until the shoot started (laughs).
—Ms. Aoi is a little off her rocker, too (laughs).
UTA: Yes (laughs). As you can see, there are a lot of unique characters in this project, so I made a point of being on set as much as possible—even when I wasn’t in a scene—to learn from them. I really hope you’ll enjoy these unique characters as well.
[【UTA] Jacket ¥579,700, Shirt ¥190,300, Pants ¥220,000, Tie ¥61,600, Shoes ¥209,000 (Bottega Veneta Japan / 0120-60-1966)
