‘Kokuho’ Production Team on Bringing Kabuki Theater to a Younger Crowd

As a part of Variety’s Screening Series, “Kokuho” manufacturing designer Yohei Taneda and producer Chieko Murata joined Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton for a candid dialog about the making of the Japanese drama on Oct. 26 in Los Angeles.

Murata kicked off the dialog explaining what Kabuki theater presents Japanese audiences by having it as the movie’s backdrop and mentioned their want to heart a story about a younger boy who, after his father’s demise, develops into a gifted performer after being adopted by a well-known Kabuki actor. 

“For Japanese people, especially the younger audience, and a regular U.S. audience, it’s similar,” Murata started. “They have never seen Kabuki and don’t know that much about it. It’s a discovery. Also, they don’t think of it as a movie about Kabuki. It’s a movie about art, two actors and the life of actors.”

Taneda touched on the challenges of recreating the different intervals of Japanese tradition introduced throughout the movie, as well as to showcasing the elaborate Kabuki kinds.

One of the greatest obstacles that Taneda confronted was having to build a Kabuki stage from scratch on a sound stage for the last quarter of the movie.

“We were very cognizant of being able to use what we see as is,” Taneda said. “Generally, with my approach, all the different sets have elements about them that would be slightly different from a real Kabuki stage. One of the challenges is that you cannot rent a Kabuki stage or theater in Japan that actually exists.”

Murata, who joined as the movie’s producer about 5 years in the past, said she resonated with the movie’s themes of life, sacrifice and loneliness. “It’s this complex pressure and life of an artist that no other people can understand,” she said. “A lot of people could resonate with that. That’s universal.” 

“Kokuho” stars Ryo Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama and Ken Watanabe. As the dialog ended, Taneda and Murata praised the solid for his or her performances. Murata said she was impressed by Watanabe’s focus and dedication to inform the story while on set. 

Taneda admired Yokohama and Yoshizawa’s ability to convey depth and complexity to their characters while also introducing Kabuki to a new technology.

“They were able to be interpreters of Kabuki to the current generation,” he said. “Through their friendship and lives, Kabuki all of a sudden became very accessible to this new younger crowd.”