As part of Variety’s screening series, “Kokuho” production designer Yohei Taneda and producer Chieko Murata spoke candidly about making the Japanese drama on Oct. 26 in Los Angeles, along with Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton.
Mr. Murata explained what Kabuki has to offer Japanese audiences as the backdrop for the film, and discussed his desire to center the film on the story of a boy who, after the death of his father, is adopted by a famous Kabuki actor and grows into a talented actor.
“It’s similar for both Japanese viewers, especially young viewers, and general American viewers,” Murata began. “They’ve never seen Kabuki, they don’t know much about Kabuki. It’s a discovery. And they don’t think of this movie as a movie about Kabuki. It’s a movie about art, the two actors, and the actors’ lives.”
In addition to introducing the elaborate Kabuki style, Taneda also touched on the challenge of recreating the various eras of Japanese culture depicted throughout the film.
One of the biggest obstacles Taneda faced was having to build a Kabuki stage from scratch on a sound stage for the last quarter of the film.
“I was very conscious of the fact that what I see can be used as is,” says Taneda. “In general, my approach is to have all the different sets contain elements that are a little bit different from a real Kabuki stage. One of the challenges is that in Japan you can’t rent actual Kabuki stages or theaters.”
Murata, who joined the film as a producer about five years ago, said he resonated with the film’s themes of life, sacrifice and loneliness. “This complicated pressure and life as an artist is something that other people can’t understand,” she said. “A lot of people will resonate with this. It’s universal.”
“Confession” starring Ryo Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama, and Ken Watanabe. After the talk, Taneda and Murata praised the cast’s acting. Murata said he was inspired by Watanabe’s focus and determination to tell the story on set.
Taneda praised Yokohama and Yoshizawa’s ability to bring depth and complexity to the characters while introducing kabuki to a new generation.
“They were able to pass on kabuki to the current generation,” he says. “Through their friendship and life, Kabuki suddenly became very accessible to this new, young audience.”
