Completion press conference of new movie "Birthday Card"

The completion press conference of new movie "Birthday Card" was held at Tokyo International Forum on 6 October which was attended by the director Yoshida Yasuhiro, cast members Hashimoto Ai, Miyazaki Aoi, Yusuke Santa Maria, Suga Kenta and Kimura Kaela who sings the theme song for the movie. The movie which will be shown in cinemas from 22 October, features Hashimoto as the lead character Noriko who receives a letter from her late mother Yoshie (Miyazaki) every year on her birthday since the latter passed away when Noriko was 10 and how she attempts to live life to to the fullest despite her mother's absence. Suga plays Noriko's younger brother while Yusuke Santa Maria plays her father.

Hashimoto commented that she hopes that many people can get to see this movie which she feels will make everyone feel happy after watching it. In the entire movie, there is only one scene where Hashimoto and Miyazaki appear together. As such, they hardly had a chance to talk on the set but Hashimoto was very pleased that there was at least one scene they shared. She recounted that being at close proximity with Miyazaki, she remembered that the latter has very beautiful hands which made her feel a lot of love and made her cry naturally. Hashimoto also revealed that when she first saw Miyazaki's name in the cast list, she was very disappointed that she would not be able to see Miyazaki because of the characters they played. In response, Miyazaki commented that she liked the scene where Hashimoto and Yusuke Santa Maria had a fight because she could see the strong emotions in Hashimoto's eyes.

The director also revealed that Hashimoto's comments had played a part in shaping the movie's direction when she commented that Noriko was too nice and thought that the story should reflect her rebellious streak as a teenager. In response, Hashimoto said that this was essential to make Noriko strong enough to stand on her own feet as an adult rather than depend too much on her mother's words to grow up.

The press conference also happened to be the first time that the "family" met up since the script reading session. Yusuke Santa Maria commented that he was happy for his "children" i.e. Hashimoto and Suga to meet his wife i.e. Miyazaki but joked that he felt like he was bringing his "mistress" i.e. Kimura to the gathering.

Sources: Oricon / Eiga.com