Friday, March 17, 2017

Production press conference of new WOWOW drama "Hitoya no Toge"

The production press conference of new WOWOW drama "Hitoya no Toge" was held on 8 March which was attended by the director Hirayama Hideyuki and cast members Kubota Masataka, Ozawa Yukiyoshi and Hagiwara Masato. The drama which consists of 6 episodes, will begin its run from 19 March in the Sundays 10pm timeslot.

The drama is based on the same-titled novel by Daimon Takeaki and features Kubota in the role of Takeshima Ryota who is a newbie prison warden like his late father and is newly assigned to the Kita Kanto Prison where bullying and illegal acts such as gambling are ignored by his corrupt colleagues who are supposed to be upright and partial. One day, a new prison chief Nakui Souichi (Ozawa Yukiyoshi) arrives at the prison and tries to eliminate the unacceptable behaviour by the wardens and makes a suggestion to Takeshima in order to achieve his aim. Hagiwara plays the warden director at the same prison.

As this is the first time that the trio worked together, they were asked about the impressions of one another. Ozawa described Kubota as a squirrel in early summer who is so excited about the arrival of summer and is always frank and straightforward. Hagiwara then commented that Kubota is so serious about his work and thought about his character even during rest times that he jokingly complained that he's such a troublesome person. As for the director, he said that Kubota is like an alien who he can't really fathom especially since there is an age gap between him and his co-stars. Upon hearing their comments, Kubota replied with a wry smile that he gets nervous around people older than him but he is happy to hear that he doesn't get stereotyped with his roles to date and he doesn't mind being called an alien who ditches his characters once he is done with acting as them and a squirrel in early summer.

The event was broadcast live on the Internet via WOWOW Purasuto and LINE LIVE where Kubota appeared very nervous from the start and did not see the microphone left on the seats for the actors. He began introducing himself without using the microphone which led Ozawa to tease him about his nervousness and blunder.

Filming of this drama was done in early summer last year for about two months.

Sources: Nikkansports / Oricon

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