Japan premiere of new movie "Museum"; Kaeru Otoko's identity revealed to be Tsumabuki Satoshi

The Japan premiere of new movie "Museum" was held on 13 October which was attended by the director Ootomo Keishi and cast members Oguri Shun, Ono Machiko, Nomura Shuhei, Matsushige Yutaka, Tabata Tomoko and Maruyama Tomomi. During the event where about 800 people had gathered along the green carpet area, it was also revealed that the role of Kaeru Otoko (Frog Man), the murderer behind a series of bizarre killings, was played by Tsumabuki Satoshi who made a surprise appearance.

The movie which is due to be shown in cinemas from 12 November, is based on the same-titled manga by Tomoe Ryousuke, features Oguri as the lead character Sawamura Hisashi who is a police detective hot on the heels of a serial murderer who wears a frog's mask thus nicknamed Kaeru Otoko who strikes only on rainy days. When the identity of the actor playing Kaeru Otoko was revealed, fans were squealing in delight which led Tsumabuki to reveal that he was worried if he would get a response as warm as when Nomura appeared so he was delighted with the reception.

Oguri reflected on the filming which he described as very tough since he was the one being forced into a corner by Kaeru Otoko and was confined by the latter. In order to act convincingly, he tried to simulate the same conditions as if he was truly confined by someone. As for the scenes shot in the rain, Oguri said that the director kept telling him to open his eyes despite the downpour and he felt as if he was about to drown in the huge amount of water. Likewise for Ono, she had to do quite a lot of screaming which made her throat hurt and she ended up with a lot of bruises after the filming.

Tsumabuki commented that he had always liked this Kaeru Otoko character but never thought that he might be offered the role one day. Otomo had asked Tsumabuki to engage in some intensive physical training since the character is a perfectionist who had training equipment at home to exercise. As such, Tsumabuki had to go to the gym thrice a week for about four months. However, when he went for the filming, he was surprised to see that the scene of Kaeru Otoko doing physical training was not included and that the only scene where he had to "expose" his body was revealing his arms while dressed in a tank top.

Nomura also chipped in to "complain" about the director who kept him suspended at a height of 11 storeys high for a scene where he was hung in mid-air by Kaeru Otoko and only let him come down during lunch break. He was quite worried that the wire might snap since that would mean sure death for him but he tried to bear with it while thinking that it must be a test for a reason which the director wanted him to go through. In response, Ootomo joked that he had the urge to keep hanging Nomura like that for no apparent reason.

The photo of Tsumabuki's skinhead image in the movie was also released on the same day. Having read the original manga, Tsumabuki accepted the offer immediately and took on all the scenes himself including those when he was wearing the frog's mask. Ootomo commented that Tsumabuki seemed to have enjoyed concealing his existence and identity through this role and was full of praise for his performance as the baddie in this movie.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sponichi / Oricon 1 / Oricon 2