46 Oku Nen No Koi (2006)
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A
The Interview with Masanobu Ando ("Shiro Kazuki")
Masanobu Ando
If you go searching the world wide web for Masanobu Ando, you will get only few results that offer satisfying content - except, of course, if you and your computer are able to read Japanese characters. While the Internet Movie Database stops at unveiling the actor's birth date and place - 19 Mai 1975, Kanagawa, Japan - and listing twenty two films in his filmography, the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia goes at least a little further by offering the supplementary information that Ando received the "Film Academy of Japan's Best New Actor Award" for his role in Takeshi Kitano's Kids Return. Depending on the source, the versatile actor is furthermore described as Japan's answer to either Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp.
Meeting him personally, you won't realise any of this. The likeable young man talks quietly and seems to be a calm and reserved person, almost shy. At the question and answer session that followed the screening of Big Bang Love, Juvenile A at the Berlinale Ando was so excited he got stuck in the middle of a sentence and told the audience via his interpreter with a bashful smile that due to his excitement he had completely lost the thread.
The chance to have a personal one-to-one interview with Masanobu Ando arrived out of the blue. After having talked to Takashi Miike, the director of Big Bang Love, they asked us if we wanted to talk to one of the actors as well. We sure did! And asked our questions - having had no time to prepare - impromptu and ad lib.
» Das Interview in deutscher Sprache.
OutNow.CH (ON): Why did you choose to play the character of Shiro Kazuki?
Japan's Johnny Depp
Masanobu Ando (MA): First of all, I really adore Takashi Miike as a film director and it has been my desire to work with him for a long time. When I was cast to play this role I therefore was really happy. When I read the script, however, it looked very abstract and I was not quite sure about it and about the way I would have to act. But then I gradually started to think that it was an interesting thing to use my body to play this role and that it was a wonderful way to express things.
ON: Is there a connection between you and the character of Shiro Kazuki?
MA: Shiro Kazuki and I really have totally different personalities. Shiro is very wild and he gets suddenly violent without any apparent reason. His way of life and his way of thinking are quite different from my way of life and my way of thinking. However, during the shooting period while playing this character, I all of sudden started to react like Shiro, instantly and without thinking. That means that during the shooting period I actually was quite different from how I usually am.
ON: Your role is physically quite demanding. How did you prepare for it?
Ando in Big Bang Love
MA: When I read the script for the first time, it actually did not look like it was going to be physically demanding all that much. But then Mr. Miike gradually changed the original script and asked me to use my body more and more. I was, however, all the time ready to do it because I trained myself a lot before the filming started and I therefore was able to do what Mr. Miike asked of me. It was actually not too hard for me to do these physical things. The interesting thing is that during the shooting period I started to react instantly, a bit like the character I portrayed, the very instinct-driven man Shiro Kazuki. I think Takashi Miike really knew that I could do all the physical stuff my character did, probably because he saw me in my former film where I played the role of a ninja and was involved in a lot of physical action. Mr. Miike therefore knew that I could do it.
ON: Do you have a "dream role" you would like to play once?
His eyes on the target
MA: I do not really have a dream role but there are a lot of people I would like to work with, domestic directors and filmmakers. In my next project for example I am going to be able to work with Shinya Tsukamoto (Japanese film director with cult status, Anm. d. Red.) and this really is one of my dreams come true. In the future I would like to work with Takashi Miike again, of course, and I also would like to get back to work with Takeshi Kitano. Furthermore, this is the first time for me to join the Berlinale and I certainly would like to come back to this film festival in the future.
ON: As a successful actor at young age, what is your advice to other youngsters who want to get into the film business?
MA: Well, I do not think that I am successful actor yet. Therefore, I would rather like someone else to give me advice on how to have a successful career in the future.
ON: Thank you for the interview.
