To portray the lives of Kabuki actors: Director Lee Sang-il and Nakamura Ganjiro talk about their latest film, "National Treasure"

A long time ago, I had been exploring the possibility of making a film based on a real-life Kabuki actor. A few years later, Yoshida Shuichi said he was going to write a newspaper novel based on Kabuki, so I was looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I had never heard of that before. Before the serialization began, I heard that Yoshida-san wanted to cover Kabuki, so I asked the costume designer to make me a black robe so that I wouldn't look suspicious in the dressing room. Yoshida-san continued to go to Kabuki for three years.

I provided Kabuki instruction for the film adaptation, but rather than focusing on the finer details, it was more about Kabuki as a whole. I cooperated as much as possible so that even people familiar with Kabuki could watch it without feeling any discomfort.

Without Ganjiro, I don't think people would have been able to watch it so closely. In particular, "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki," which appears in the play, is Nakamura Ganjiro's speciality, like a family heirloom. We were going to have an actor with no experience in Kabuki or Japanese dance perform it, so it's not surprising that he would be angry. But it seems like Ganjiro himself is engrossed in it...

That's exactly what happened (laughs).

I feel like Ganjiro got Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama hooked (on Kabuki) because they were also cornered and exuded a sense of tragedy.

If it could be done overnight, there would be no need for Kabuki actors (laughs). However, while dance moves can be imitated through intensive training and memorization, there are no models for the movements of a play like "Sonezaki." And since they were both playing female roles, I think they both did a good job.

If you want to see Kabuki, the best thing to do is go see a live performance, and there's also Cinema Kabuki. In this film, I wanted to explore the inner workings of a Kabuki actor, the part that lies beneath the surface, just the tip of the iceberg that is the Kabuki stage. I thought it would be best to have a film actor play the role.

It's a human drama, after all. The director often came to the rehearsals and watched them rehearsing. To be honest, I was surprised when I heard they were going to do Sonezaki, but the play and the story are exquisitely linked, and it's portrayed in a way that only a film can. I was impressed, thinking, "They're bringing it here!"

One of the fascinating things about Kabuki is that even the same play and role can change depending on the performer. I adjusted the script design while observing how the two actors immersed themselves in Kabuki during rehearsals.

I was so busy teaching them that I didn't realize it, but they were under the double burden of having to act out the kabuki roles of Kikuo and Shunsuke, the characters in the film, right?

The first mission was to make them convincing as kabuki actors in the video. Furthermore, we challenged them to break out of their shells and understand what emotions Kikuo would have when performing kabuki. I think they were worried that people would think they weren't good at kabuki.

The director's pressure during filming was incredible. He kept telling me to "More! More!" for my scenes (laughs), and he even shot the same Kabuki performance so many times that it was surprising.

In real Kabuki, the show is performed once a day, but in filming it is performed many times (laughs).

It's been a year since filming began, but those three months were so intense that I can't remember what else I did (laughs).

I was making it wondering if it would ever end, but it turns out it will end someday (laughs).