Actor Issei Takahashi and his wife Marie Iitoyo appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on April 15th to announce the completion of the film "Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe At a Confessional: The Confessional" (directed by Kazutaka Watanabe, scheduled for release on May 23rd). This was the first time the couple had appeared in public together since announcing their marriage in May last year. The two, who co-star in the film, talked about their memories of Venice, Italy, where they visited for filming.
Takahashi and Iitoyo co-starred in the TV drama version of the series, which began airing in December 2020. They announced their marriage in May 2024.
At the press conference, they talked about their memories of Venice and, in keeping with the title of the film, "things they want to confess." Takahashi confessed, "I don't know how many earrings (from costumes) I've lost in these five years (since the Kishibe Rohan series began)," recalling that every time they did, the stylist had to go looking for them. When he revealed that he had lost one during the Venice location shoot, his co-star Iitoyo also confessed with a wry smile, "Me too..." that she had lost an earring. Iitoyo explained that after filming, while talking to co-star Daito Shunsuke, she had nodded several times, causing the black part of the earring to fall off, making everyone laugh.
"Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe" is a spin-off of Hirohiko Araki's popular manga series "JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE Adventure" (Shueisha), a suspense horror story about a manga artist named Rohan who has the ability to turn people into books and "read" their memories, personalities, etc., as he encounters strange incidents and mysterious phenomena. The first season of the drama was broadcast in December 2020, followed by the second season in 2021 and the third season in 2022. The first film version, "Rohan Kishibe Goes to the Louvre," was released in 2023, and the latest in the drama series, "Poaching Seashore," was broadcast in May 2024.
The film adaptation of "At a Confessional" is based on an episode that is extremely popular among fans. When Rohan visits a "At a Confessional" in a church in Venice on a research trip, a man appears to make a "confession." Driven by curiosity and the belief that "experience creates reality in a work," Rohan disguises himself as a priest and listens to the man's "confession," and the man begins to talk about a horrific event that happened 25 years ago... and so the story unfolds. This is the first Japanese film to be shot entirely on location in Venice, Italy.
When asked how he felt when the film adaptation was decided, Takahashi, who plays Rohan, explained his feelings at the time, saying, "I felt a sense of urgency. I had the feeling that I was finally going to get my hands on this episode called ' At a Confessional.'" Iitoyo, who plays Rohan's editor, Izumi Kyoka, also said, "I thought it was finally here," and added, "Issei-san told me most of the details, but I personally wondered how Izumi would get involved. Izumi Kyoka is a character who only appears in 'Togō Mura' (the original work), so I wondered how she would enter the world of ' At a Confessional' together with Rohan-sensei."
Tina Tamashiro, Daito, Arata Iura, and director Watanabe also attended the press conference.
