Akashiya Sanma produce new Netflix drama "Jimmy ~ Aho mitai na honma no hanashi ~" starring Koide Keisuke & Nakao Akiyoshi

Akashiya Sanma will be producing the new Netflix drama "Jimmy ~ Aho mitai na honma no hanashi ~" (Jimmy ~ The fool-like real story ~) which will consist of 9 episodes and be shown to 190 countries next summer. The drama which is based on the life of comedian Jimmy Onishi, will feature Koide Keisuke playing Sanma himself and Nakao Akiyoshi playing Jimmy. Filming began from August and wrapped up in November. This is the first time in Sanma's 42-year career that he is producing a drama series.

The drama describes the "fateful" meeting at Osaka in the 1980s between Sanma and Jimmy when Sanma found the latter tied to the staircase of a theatre without wearing any clothes. At that time, Jimmy was just a newbie comedian who failed at everything he did while Sanma was already a popular star. Subsequently, Sanma helped Jimmy to develop his comedic talent and the latter even became an international artist. Sanma commented that even though these stories may seem like fiction, they are actually all true events and called upon everyone to watch the drama. Jimmy himself admitted that the incidents depicted in the drama were all true. Sanma related that they used to talk about these happenings with others which were sure to make them laugh and wondered if there might be a day when they could dramatise it and show it to the world.

Koide commented that he deliberated a lot before taking up the role because Sanma is so well-known but this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so he tried his best to blend into the role by paying extra attention to the way Sanma jokes, the volume and tone of his voice and the tempo of his speech. On the other hand, Nakao said that he was initially troubled over whether to take on the offer but Sanma had told him that he didn't need to imitate Jimmy in the drama which made him feel at ease. Although it was tough to act in this drama, he felt that everything was worth the effort in the end. Nakao did try to watch interviews of Jimmy in the past but they were filled with a lot of dirty jokes which couldn't be used so they turned out to be useless to him in the end.

During the filming, Sanma tried his best to come to the set and support the actors whenever he had the time. Before that, he actually got them to meet him and Jimmy for some rehearsals but Jimmy was getting too carried away so Sanma held the last few rehearsals with the actors only.

Co-stars also include Onoue Hiroyuki who plays Murakami George, Rokkaku Shinji who plays Mr. Okure, Kinami Haruka who plays Jimmy's manager, Hamada Mari who plays the manager at Nanba Kagetsu taking care of the comedians as well as Uno Shohei, Nakamura Yasuhi, Yasoda Yuichi and Nakamura Ikuji.

Sources: Sanspo / Eiga.com / Sponichi