MONSTERS official website first interview
(The 2nd day of crank in, a certain place in Tokyo)
As this is the first time 2 of you are co-starring together, please tell us your honest impressions.
Katori: I was glad because I had wanted to work together someday. Probably because I kept on having such a thought, I wasn’t surprised when I heard that we are going to co-star, I thought “Ah, is that so~”.
What is the reason that you wanted to co-star with Yamashita?
Katori: Isn’t he cool? I’ve watched Yamashita’s dramas and I felt like he’s more of a cool actor rather than a kouhai (junior). Therefore I thought it will be great if someday we can co-star together.
Although we have only just filmed one day, but I think this drama will show the viewers a Yamapi they have never seen before. Not just cool-looking. I’m extremely looking forward to seeing what kind of Yamashita he’ll show us, everyone please look forward to it too (laughs)
Yamashita: I was nervous at the thought of meeting with Katori-san. I’ve watched Katori’s work, and although I did thought of wanting to work together someday, I never thought it would actually come true! If you continue to hold on to a thought, it will come true. I will work hard to not overlook any of Katori-san’s acting and learn many things.
Are you still nervous now?
Yamashita: I’m still nervous sitting next to him in this kind of interview because he’s my senpai. But when we’re acting, I wasn’t nervous as I get to interact with the character Hiratsuka Heihachi. I was uneasy before filming started, but once I changed into the uniform and entered the set, I’m glad that I was able to get into it naturally.
What is the reason you wanted to co-star with Katori-san?
Yamashita: I’ve watched a lot of Katori’s dramas as a fan, there were laughter, tears and touching moments, I think he’s an amazing actor. If I can work with this kind of Katori, we might be able to create an interesting drama, that’s why I’ve thought of working together someday.
Katori’s role is the “strange and hateful person” Hiratsuka Heihachi and Yamashita’s role is the “noble’s son” Saionji Kousuke. Have the 2 of you considered on what kind of acting you want to portray?
Katori: Hiratsuka Heihachi is an eccentric detective who is very cheap and makeshift, he’s meticulous and you can’t tell whether he’s listening when people talk. He always puts on a smile and is hypocritically polite. I also have similar parts, but it is Shingo-chan that wraps up these parts and does good things. I’m acting with the intentions of letting the viewers see this clearly (laughs). I’m acting very happily. Also, this time Yamashita is running with all his might. Because up until now, I have many dramas where I run nonstop… (laughs)
Yamashita: My character, Saionji is a “noble’s son”. In order to be formally accepted into the investigation department that he longed for, he tries his best to fulfil the duty he imposed on himself, that is “watch over Heihachi”. As he’s a passionate and ambitious character, I want to follow after Katori-san and keep running.
Are there any parts that you like about your character?
Katori: The thing that I like is probably “appropriateness”. Heihachi mostly solves problems inside his own head by himself, I like his my-pace personality. I also have times that I pretended to do things properly but thought of something else instead (laughs), I hope to let the viewers see this side of me. “I never knew Katori Shingo was like that!”. That being said, I am acting seriously now (laughs). Right, Yamapi.
Yamashita: Yes, of course (laughs)
Katori: (laughs)
Yamashita: My character Saionji is very high spirited and has big reactions. I often get told that I’m “low tension”, so I want to happily act this high spirited Saionji Kousuke. This character has parts that I don’t have; I like this part about him a lot.
What do you think of the script?
Katori: It was interesting. When I read novels and scripts, I don’t read until halfway and flipped back to read again, but this time I went “Eh?” “Was it like that?”, and I flipped back to read again.
Yamashita: I also read and guess at the same time, but this time all my guesses were completely wrong. Normally when I read novels, I imagined “this will probably develop into this”, but this script narrates from a completely different point of view, it was interesting.
The script seemed to be interesting, but what do you think after the first day of filming?
Katori: Well, it was difficult.
Yamashita: It was difficult.
Katori: For the first scene on the first day, we rehearsed beforehand. I’m not good with rehearsals but I’m glad we did it. If we didn’t rehearse, it might take a longer time, and it would have been even more strenuous. As there were no more rehearsals for the scenes after that, I have to ponder more thoroughly on site, if mine and Yamashita’s breath don’t match each other, the drama might become vague, I will work hard to match our tone.
Yamashita: Besides acting, the filming still has many difficult parts, but it was fun anyway. The first day passed by in a blink of an eye, I thought “I want to continue filming!”. I will read the script many times, do image training repeatedly and hopefully lessen the distance between Saionji and Heihachi.
Are there any “difficult” parts in particular?
Katori: Well… Just reading the lines is not enough, the lines and actions must have good tempo. The requests of the director and staffs are very high. Yamashita and I also realized that after reading the script, but when we’re acting for real, I think it still doesn’t flow out naturally….To naturally act out Heihachi and Saionji’s atmosphere was very difficult.
Yamashita: Yes. It’s because the demands are very high. I have to work even harder….
Katori: That’s right.
…To be continued
Official website
Cr: Weibo