According-Wada

Makoto Wada

Director of “Round About Midnight”, “Kaito Ruby” and “Mahjong Vagrant Life”

hen he met Sanada-san in 1984, Director Wada was well known as an illustrator, but never had any relationship with movie making. All of a sudden, he got a chance to direct a movie “Mahjong Vagrant Life” through his discussion with Haruki Kadokawa, president of Kadokawa Shoten (movie studio), and Sanada-san was asked to play the main role.

Sanada-san was already an idol and big action hero then, but the role of this movie “Boya-Tetsu” was a young gambler. Wada-san was nervous if this star actor would accept this role, but Sanada-san was looking for an opportunity to expand his range into non-action genre at that time, so gladly accepted the offer without any conditions. Wada-san still was not sure because Boya-Tetsu was relatively low-key among other strong characters, but Sanada-san said:

“I don’t mind if I am high profile or not. I just want to participate in a good movie.” (from Asahi Graph)

Wada-san was really excited to hear this, and he tried hard to live up to Sanada-san’s trust to this rooky director. Sanada-san was always cheerful and made a good atmosphere at the shooting site. He received Japan Academy Actor Award for this role, and “Mahjong” became a cornerstone in his early acting career. Wada-san writes:

“The drastic change of image from his previous works and his enthusiasm towards acting surprised people and made them praise him. ‘Mahjong’ has an important meaning in his acting career, but it is not because of me - it was his choice and the fruit of his hard work.” (from Asahi Graph)

Four years later, Wada-san wrote a scenario of “Kaito Ruby”. He had Sanada-san as the main role in mind, but when he finished writing, the role became a completely comedy character and he thought it was too much even for Sanada-san. So he searched other comedy actors, but no one was fit, so he ended up asking Sanada-san again. “Kaito Ruby” became another spring board for Sanada-san to again show his new charm in comical character, and brought about several awards to him.

Wada-san made “Uneasy Encounters” in 1994 and Sanada-san again participated in that movie. And then, in 2001, they worked together for “Round About Midnight”. There, Sanada-san played a jazz trumpeter. He received training by a professional trumpeter for several months, and although the sound was recorded by the professional, Sanada-san’s finger moves, breathing, and other moves looked perfectly real even to the eyes of music professionals. Wada-san writes:

“Again, it is thanks to his hard work, big effort and concentration. It has nothing to do with director’s acting advice. It is his work, and is a happy case of a director helped by an actor.” (from Asahi Graph)

Right after finishing with “Midnight”, Sanada-san took off to England for “King Lear” with Royal Shakespeare Company. He must have been practicing his English lines for “Lear” during the “Midnight” shooting, but he never showed it. Wada-san praises his consideration to “Midnight” staff and his concentration to each work.

“Midnight” is an interesting -and very unlikely- combination of jazz and action. There is a scene that Sanada-san and a heroin escape from one building roof to another, hanging onto a wire. Noboru Shinoda (camera) and Wada-san discuss in the DVD extra:

“I had to crouch down at the edge of the building because I was too scared, but Sanada-san was standing right on the same place with no support, looking down and smoking a cigarette like nothing! He is something else.”

“He was protecting his trumpet all the way through the actions. There is no Kung-fu type amazing actions, just a normal person drown into the situation, but actually, it is amazing that he did it so naturally.”

Wada-san has made four movies so far and Sanada-san plays in all of them. Wada-san writes:

“I always work with him, but he works with other directors too. Most of the directors who work with him once want to do it again. His acting ability and his personality makes them feel that way.”

“Sanada-san never complains even under a severe condition, and keeps a positive attitude all the time. If the main actor is like this, it makes so much difference in atmosphere. It motivates the staff, and as a result, the movie is positively influenced.” (from Asahi Graph)

Director Wada is considered a unique talent in Japanese movie industry, by bringing in a fresh air into this struggling industry. He received Yodogawa Nagaharu Award in 2003, the year before Sanada-san.

Makoto Wada, “Encounter with Mr. Hiroyuki Sanada”, Asahi Graph, April 28, 2001http://www3.asahi.com/opendoors/zasshi/gurafu/backnumber/b20000428.html
Website “Mahjong Vagrant Life”, Kadokawa Shoten Publishinghttp://www.kadokawa.co.jp/dvd/HP/majan.html

“Round About Midnight” DVD, Tohoku Shinsha

Mahjong Vagrant Life (Kadokawa Publishing)http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/filmsales/index2.html
(In this Website, the English title is “Ma-jong”, but we follow the IMDb data here to be consistent with other parts of the Website.)

Round About Midnight
http://www.minipara.com/movies2001-2nd/mayonaka/http://www.minipara.com/movies2001-2nd/mayonaka/img/big.jpg (Movie brochure designed by Makoto Wada)http://www.cinematopics.com/cinema/topics/topics2.php?number=268&tosi=2001&tuki=08 (From the top, Director Wada, Sanada-san and Hayato Kunimura - played the corrupt detective)