Special screening event & production press conference of TBS Summer 2017 drama "Hello Harinezumi"

The special screening event and production press conference of TBS Summer 2017 drama "Hello Harinezumi" was held at Tokyo Cinema Club on 10 July which was attended by the director Ohne Hitoshi, producer Han Cheol and cast members Eita, Fukada Kyoko, Morita Go and Yamaguchi Tomoko. The drama begins its run from 14 July in the Fridays 10pm timeslot.

The drama is based on the same-titled manga by Hirokane Kenshi, was serialised in "Shuukan Young Magazine between 1980 and 1989. Although the manga was set in the Showa era, it will be adapted to be set in the modern Heisei era. Eita plays the role of private detective Nanase Goro who works in the investigation agency Akatsuka Tantei Jimusho in Shimoakatsuka in Itabashi Ward of Tokyo where he takes on any case no matter how troublesome or difficult it may be. Goro is a bit of a lecher and a busybody but he is also passionate and sincere. Fukada will be playing the mysterious heroine Shidawara Ranko while Morita will play Goro's partner Kogure Kyuusaku. Yamaguchi will be playing Kaze Kahoru who is the boss of the agency.

Eita who last appeared in a TBS drama back 13 years ago i.e. "Orange Days", said that he and Morita have gotten quite close through the filming of this drama. Although it took time for the shy Morita to warm up to him, Eita said that they have become close enough to talk about anything so he feels very happy to be one of the few people on such terms with Morita. Morita echoed his view and said that he can trust Eita with his secrets and can even accept the idea of living together with his new friend. Director Ohne who is an old friend of Morita, expressed amazement and shock at how Morita warmed up to Eita so quickly especially when he saw Morita laughing heartily on the set.

Eita revealed that there was a scene where he had to dangle from the 9th floor of a building at the instructions of Ohne which led him to "complain" because the scene where he jumped from the building was done against a CG screen instead. However, he pressed on with him and felt like Jackie Chan while doing the dangling scene from the building. In response, Ohne said that he prefers to do the scenes for real rather than waste money on unnecessary CG which will also give a sense of reality to the scenes.

Fukada revealed that while they were in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka for filming, she decided to bring 100 pieces of the local specialty gyoza to the set as a snack and pan-fried them at the residents' hall there before bringing to the set. Although she thought that the director would be pleased with her gesture, he actually "complained" about the gyoza and asked if she made them at home so it made her a bit sad. Upon hearing this, Ohne said that he was actually very happy to have the local gyoza as a snack but admitted that he was surprised because he never had fresh pan-fried gyoza during filming before.

As for Yamaguchi Tomoko, she talked about her first baddie role at the age of 52 in her career so far and most of her scenes are shot indoors at the detective agency. She expressed hope in that this will be a memorable experience to play a baddie and will put in her best effort.

At the end of the event, Eita commented that he hardly gets on his knees for others and suddenly kneeled down in front of everyone to ask for their support of this drama. As there is a scene in the first episode where his character Goro has to get on his knees for the sake of his client, he revealed that he was undecided on whether to do this on stage up to the last minute but decided to go ahead with it without letting anyone know. As such, his co-stars were genuinely surprised by his sudden move.

Sources: Eiga.com / Nikkansports / Yomiuri Hochi / Oricon