Fukuyama Masaharu の Heart

Extract from NHK Ryomaden Site - Interview with Fukuda Yasushi

■ What was your first impression of Fukuyama Masaharu-san?

FY: We met in the actors’ meeting for “Galileo”. From the start, I felt he was very straightforward and friendly, the type who’d let you feel there were no barriers around him. Even though it was our first meeting, he came over and asked me openly “Sorry about this, but what’s the correct way to read this word (水分子), as ‘mizu’ or ‘sui’??” As a scriptwriter, I have never had an actor approach me on his own and speak so candidly, so I found it very new to me and I was very pleased.

Thereafter, every time I went on the set, he’d make it a point to come over and talk to me “Fukuda-san, do you have any interests or things you like to do?” I got the impression that he thinks a lot, perhaps he wanted to make me feel comfortable. But by doing that, even a scriptwriter like me felt that I was part of the team. I have never had such an experience before.

At the same time, I like his attitude towards work and I’m very happy to be able to work with him again for this taiga.

■ Did you discuss about Sakamoto Ryoma with Fukuyama-san?

FY: Firstly, Fukuyama-san never mentioned how he wanted to interpret this role of Ryoma. Because he believes “he is principally a musician”, so he would have his own opinions where music is concerned. But when it comes to acting, he was very modest and his attitude was “Please write in how I should approach this.” So I was the one who brought up “This is how I want to portray Ryoma.”

■ Then could you tell us what that Ryoma is like?

FY: He’s a very ordinary man to begin with, I want to illustrate in detail how he came to be the “Ryoma” that we all know. Like Fukuyama-san for example, he didn’t start off like the superstar he is now. When I said these words to him, he replied “I was just a big boy from Nagasaki. My mother had once told me that if I couldn’t find a high school to take me, I’d have to learn to be a fisherman. If I really couldn’t get in at that time, I’d probably be living as a fisherman now.”

And this big boy from Nagasaki came to Tokyo after graduating from high school and became the superstar that everybody loves. So I told him, that’s the very process I want to depict in “Ryomaden”.

■ You mean, you want to write about the person that Ryoma was, before he became the (hero) in people’s hearts.

FY: Yes. After going through all those books and information about Ryoma, my impression was, if there was indeed someone like Ryoma that I know, for sure I would not want to make friends with him. (laugh) Not only does he speak his mind without regard for the person his talks to, he does so even to people he meets for the first time, or to his elders. That is a trait of Ryoma. Put nicely, you could call it bold and carefree, but if there really was such a person now, I don’t think people will like him. But the people (who know Ryoma) were willing to excuse his behaviour and accept him. That was very interesting. I believe he must have had something to be able to touch people’s hearts like that.

Everybody knows about that straightforward and honest Ryoma. Of course he is very charismatic, but if played by a real person, he’d probably give people the impression “My goodness! How insensitive is that!” This taiga drama lasts one year. I expect when the character first appears, we’d probably get very annoyed with him. That’s why I want to start off with a very unexceptional Ryoma. I had also said the same thing to Fukuyama-san in our prep meeting for Ryoma’s image.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

■ What was Ryoma like in his youth?

FY: Before he left for Edo, Ryoma wasn’t particularly outstanding compared to others. On the contrary, the people around him, like Takechi Hanpeita (武市半平太) and Iwasaki Yataro (岩崎彌太郎) had much stronger characters. Hanpeita had the trust of his peers and was a leader in people’s eyes. And Yataro had a very distinct personality, he had a strong ego and was interested only in his own matters. Compared to them, Ryoma was simply a very ordinary young man, not yet the well-known hero that he would be.

But in a drama series, if the lead does not stand out, he’ll be buried by the glamour of the other characters. So if it wasn’t for people like Fukuyama-san who could command a different atmosphere just by standing there, we’d have to constantly remind people that “Our lead actor is over here!” Otherwise , the audience is going to shift their focus eventually to Hanpeita and Yataro.

In other words, it’s only because we have a star like Fukuyama-san that I can go ahead to create Ryoma as an normal young man.

■ Indeed, Fukuyama-san’s existence is very outstanding, isn’t it?

FY: When he tried on his costumes, Fukuyama-san held up Ryoma’s clothes and saying “How do you put this on? I’m not too sure….” he disappeared behind the curtain. After a while, “Does this look OK?” he came out asking, and everyone there immediately cried out “Wow!” It was just so unconditionally kakkoi, I have no words to describe it.

I guess it’s the same exclamation you see people give in shoujo manga (少女漫画 girls comics) when the main characters suddenly appear in from of you.

In fact, when I was writing the transition from child to adult Ryoma, i.e. the first time Fukuyama-san’s Ryoma was to appear in the drama, I wanted to give him a special entrance. That was a mistake. After I saw Fukuyama-san try out his costume, I realised it was totally meaningless for me to rack my brains on how to bring Ryoma out on screen. By just letting him walk casually towards you, should be enough. Because this is the charm of Fukuyama-san’s Ryoma.

To exaggerate a bit, he is so kakkoi, it makes me think “As long as Fukuyama-san is there on the screen, nothing else matters!” (laugh)

■ That means, compared to the Fukuyama-san in “Galileo”, he’ll be showing a different kind of charm?

FY: That goes without saying. At the same time, as an actor, he’s being asked to do something totally different now. During “Galileo”, his character is not required to express deep emotion. All he had to do was put his hand on his face and say “Jitsu ni Omoshiroi” (this is really interesting) and that was enough to bring out the unique personality and glamour of his role. But in “Ryomaden”, he must be able to portray a real historic person.

His lines are long and plenty, and in Tosa dialect. I was worried as I was writing the script “Will he be able to handle it?” But when I asked Fukuyama-san after the filming started, it seems my worries were groundless.

~ The End ~

This extract was taken from the sections directly relevant to Masha in Fukuda-san’s interview. In the rest of the interview, Fukuda-san also talked about how he came about with the Ryomaden script; how it compares with his previous works; how the character of Ryoma changes as the story progresses and what a hero is, in his eyes.

The full interview translation is posted in MashaPlus [dot] Info Forums. (Registration required to enter.)

This extract was translated from the Chinese version in Fukuyama Honne (Articles 7295 and 7307) with reference to the original articles on the NHK official Ryomaden homepage Part 3 and Part 4 (dated 2009.11.15 and 11.22).