Motoki Nakazawa stars in the film " I Kimi no Kao dewa Nakenai " (directed by Sakashita Yuichiro), which was released on November 14th and marks his first collaboration with Kyoko Yoshine and Takahashi Kaito. The story is about Sakadaira Riku (Yoshine) and Mizumura Manami (Takahashi), a man and woman who have been body-swapped for 15 years, and he plays Tazaki Junichi, Riku's best friend. The interview day marks exactly four years since Nakazawa joined his current agency. "I can't even imagine what I'll be like a year from now, but my desire to focus on the things in front of me remains unchanged," Nakazawa reveals, so we asked him about his current thoughts.
" I Kimi no Kao dewa Nakenai" is based on the novel of the same name, which is the debut work of Kimijima Kanata. It begins in the summer of their first year of high school, when Sakadaira Riku and Mizumura Manami end up switching bodies after falling into a pool together. While harboring a secret they cannot tell anyone, the two experience turning points in their lives, including going on to college, first love, getting a job, getting married, having a child, and parting ways with their parents. However, in the summer when they turn 30, Manami tells Riku, "I think I might have figured out how to go back to normal."
Nakazawa, who plays Riku's best friend, Junichi Tazaki, is 25 years old and was born on February 20, 2000, in Ibaraki Prefecture. He gained attention in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Gekokujou Kyuji" in October 2023, and made his first lead role in the TV Tokyo drama series "Hidamari ga Kikoeru" in 2024 (co-starring with Toranosuke Kobayashi).
In the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan," which aired its final episode in September, he played the role of Chihiro , the Takashi Yanase brother of Takashi Yanase, the creator of Anpanman, who had a major influence on Takashi Yanai(played by Takumi Kitamura). He showed a strong presence, but he is aware that "the expectations and hurdles around me have risen," and says, "I think I'm under pressure, in a good way, to go beyond that."
Looking back on the four years since joining her current agency, Nakazawa also revealed, "I really feel that I have been blessed with the people and works I have encountered."
"At every single set, I was surrounded by people I respected, people I wanted to aspire to be like, and people with many good qualities that I thought I'd like to incorporate into my own work. I began to get a clearer picture of what my ideal actor should be like."
Nakazawa also said about himself, "I was originally a person who lacked confidence."
"It took me a long time to join an agency, about three years as a trainee, so I thought I started a little late. That's why I felt I had to work hard to make a star dash from there, and now that four years have passed, I feel that all that hard work is starting to bear fruit, even if it's only little by little."
In all of Nakazawa's works, he gives the impression of standing firmly on his own two feet, and he says that as he gained more experience, his lack of confidence gradually disappeared.
"I think that's the biggest change in me. I've gained confidence, or rather, I've been given the opportunity to stand in places that someone without confidence wouldn't be allowed to stand in. I also think that I've gained the ability to express myself, and I think that this kind of personal growth can be reflected in the role, so I feel that it's a good change."
We also asked him about his ideal image of the actor he wants to be, which is gradually becoming clearer. Of course, this is his ideal image at the moment...
"My personality is such that I'm not the type to lead everyone with a 'Let's do our best' attitude, or the 'behind the scenes supporter', but I think that might be more suited to me. So, although I haven't decided what I want to do, I would like to become an actor with a big heart and solid human qualities."
※The "taka" in Kaito Takahashi's name is pronounced "hashigo-daka"
