Yamada Takayuki to appear in TV Tokyo drama SP "Hagoku" as a prisoner

Yamada Takayuki will be appearing in the TV Tokyo drama SP "Hagoku" opposite the lead played by Beat Takeshi which is due to be shown within the year. In this drama SP set in 1942, Takeshi will be playing a prison warden named Urata Susumu who works at Kosuge Prison in Tokyo and has no purpose in life other than stop his prisoners from escaping ever since his wife died during an earthquake. One day, he is informed that a former inmate at Kosuge named Sakuma Kiyotaro who used to respect him a lot and was sent to another prison in Akita to serve his life sentence had escaped. 3 months later, Sakuma comes to Urata's house and reveals that he was subjected to inhumane treatment at the Akita prison and wants to launch a lawsuit against them. However, Urata tells on Sakuma which results in the latter being caught and sent to the prison in Abashiri, Hokkaido. Subsequently, Urata gets transferred to Abashiri to become the chief warden and meets Sakuma there again.

Yamada will be taking on the role of Sakuma who was born into a poor family in Aomori and became an odd-job man on a crab fishing boat. While breaking into a warehouse to steal, he kills a man who is hot on his heels and gets a life sentence. However, he vows to stay alive and tries to break out of prison successfully at least 4 times. With regard to his character, Yamada commented that he never expected this character to be so worn-out both physically and mentally but he was happy to be able to challenge himself. In order to match the image of his character, Yamada shaved his head and went through a strict diet to lose weight. During the filming of this drama SP, he rejected all other jobs so as to concentrate on this project. Yamada added that just as what Urata's lines say, Sakuma is such a straightforward person that many people cannot comprehend him and just fear him. As such, he hopes to be able to show this side of Sakuma through his acting. As for working with Takeshi for the first time, he clearly enjoyed the experience and hoped that there would be a day when he can act in a production directed by his co-star.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Oricon / Eiga.com