Interview with Mizuki Yamashita and Riku Hagiwara for the drama "My murdered husband has returned"

The drama series W-30 " My murdered husband has returned, " starring model and actor Mizuki Yamashita , will begin broadcasting on WOWOW Prime and WOWOW On Demand from 11:00 pm on July 11th. The original work is the novel of the same name by Mina Sakurai (Shogakukan, 2021). It is a shocking suspense mystery in which the protagonist, who has killed her abusive husband, finds the husband she thought she had killed appearing in front of her with no memory of what she had done.

Yamashita's co-star is Riku Hagiwara. The two co-starred in the 2019 TV drama series "Video Girl Ai 2019" (TV Tokyo), and also co-starred in last year's TV drama series "Furitsumore Kodoku na Shi yo" (Nippon TV). This is the third time they've co-starred, and the two played a married couple. In a completely different atmosphere to the drama, they responded to the interview in a friendly atmosphere.

◇ "I wasn't worried" even when talking about difficult topics

--You both appeared in "Furi-Pile Lonely Death" last year, but it's been a while since you last met. What did you talk about when you met for the first time in a while?

Hagiwara: Yes, we didn't have the same scene in last year's drama, so it was like six years since our last time together. However, the first scene was an important one, so we only talked about the acting.

Yamashita-san: We didn't shoot in order from episode 1, so we suddenly had a difficult scene, and it was like, "What should I do...?" rather than, "It's been a long time!"

Hagiwara-san: But even though it had been years since we last met, we were able to get along right away. I think that was because we had worked together before. The set of "Video Girl Ai" was quite tough in many ways... (laughs).

Yamashita: "Video Girl Ai" was the hardest of all the productions I've been involved in so far.

Hagiwara: So I think of him as a "comrade-in-arms" who overcame that together. This time it was a difficult story, but I wasn't worried because it was Yamashita.

--Have you been keeping an eye on each other's achievements over these past six years?

Hagiwara: I often see him on the news on my smartphone, and he always appears in something, so it's hard to go a week without seeing him, so he's been an inspiration to me.

Yamashita-san: Thank you (laughs). Since we first met six years ago, I knew you would be appearing in many productions, but you've become a huge hit.

Hagiwara: I like that word (laughs). But it's not common to be in a production for six years in this industry, so I'm happy that we were able to work together again in a number of productions after both of us having worked on various projects.

◇What hasn't changed in six years

--You're both getting older now, but have you noticed anything that's changed?

Yamashita: Six years had passed, and I thought there might be some awkwardness, but things were still the same as they were back then.

Hagiwara-san: I was relieved too. We haven't changed at all, right?

Yamashita-san: Not only the atmosphere, but during the sleeping scenes, Hagiwara-san really falls asleep! He was sleeping six years ago as well, and he did the same this time, so I guess that hasn't changed either (laughs).

Hagiwara-san: I was careful not to fall asleep this time, but I ended up falling asleep... I haven't grown at all. I'm sorry about that (laughs).

--Were there any scenes where you felt like your previous experience working together came in handy?

Yamashita-san: It's the wind from the hill scene in the final episode, right? (laughs)

Hagiwara: Yes. It was a particularly important scene in the story, but the wind was so strong that we couldn't hear each other even though we were close to each other.

Yamashita: There was such a strong wind that I couldn't even hear my own voice, so I had to watch Hagiwara's mouth movements to deliver my lines.

Hagiwara: After that, I checked the camera and there was still nothing strange. This may have been the moment when our last performance together was the most vivid.

--You two really demonstrated perfect harmony! Lastly, please tell us what the highlights of this film are.

Yamashita-san: I think that if you watch it to the end, each person will feel something completely different. I hope that it will be a work that allows people to find even a little ray of hope in the midst of the helplessness, sadness, and emptiness.

Hagiwara: I think you can enjoy it from the perspective of how it ends as a mystery. However, I recommend watching it in an environment where you can concentrate!

The drama will have 6 episodes. It will be broadcast and streamed on WOWOW Prime and WOWOW On Demand from 11:00 pm on July 11th (the first episode will be broadcast and streamed for free). Prior to the broadcast, the first episode will be available for free on WOWOW's official YouTube channel and WOWOW On Demand.