Actors Masaki Okada and Shota Sometani recently attended the production announcement for the TBS Friday drama "Takusari Brothers" (Fridays at 10 PM), which will air in April. This will be their sixth time acting together, and the two, who have been friends for about 20 years, spoke about how they came to play brothers in the drama and their thoughts on playing the role.
The drama follows the "Tasakara Brothers," the older brother, detective Makoto Tasakara (Okada), and his younger brother, coroner Minoru Tasakara (Sometani), as they pursue the heinous crimes that occur every day and the true culprit behind the murder of their parents 31 years ago, which expired just two days before the statute of limitations was abolished. The script is written by Watanabe Kei, known for "Tumbling," and the director is Yamamoto Takeyoshi, known for "Saiai."
This is the latest work from producer Arai Junko, who has worked on hit crime suspense films such as "The Last Mile" and dramas such as "Unnatural," "MIU404," and "Saiai," and marks her second collaboration with Okada since "The Last Mile."
Okada and Sometani first appeared together in a school drama about 20 years ago. They continued to appear together since then and became good friends, calling each other "Ma-kun" and "Shota."
Okada explained, "The first school drama I worked on with Sometani was about 20 years ago. I was in high school and Sometani was in middle school." Sometani remarked, "We would go to the movies together, and Okada would take me to vintage clothing stores. It brings back memories," to which Okada replied with a smile, "It's quite moving. I'm glad we kept going, and I never imagined back then that we'd be doing a drama together like this, so I think persistence is key in anything."
Regarding how they ended up playing the roles of brothers, Okada, who had already been confirmed to appear in the film, passionately expressed his desire to producer Arai, saying, "I want Sometani to play the younger brother role," and the offer to Sometani was made.
The program was supposed to send a proposal to Sometani, but Okada revealed, "I wanted Sometani so badly that I panicked and contacted him." He recalled, "I said, 'Here's the proposal, so take a look!' Sometani receives an incredible amount of proposals, so it would get buried... I wanted to cheat a little and make sure he didn't miss it. I contacted him with the feeling that I wanted to play Brothers with him."
Sometani readily accepted the enthusiastic offer, and Okada expressed his joy, saying, "I've always wanted to act with Sometani again, so I was really happy that he was so willing to accept."
"Because it's a story about brothers, there are definitely scenes that can only be done because we know each other well and, more than anything, because we've known each other for a long time. We trust each other, so we have intense conversations on set and are conscious of making the best scenes possible. I'm really grateful that I can consult with Sometani-kun so much."
Sometani also said about Okada, "In a good way, we can be together without having to worry about anything, and we really spend time on set like brothers, so it's fun both on set and acting."
"(Okada) is like a friendly older brother. He's very considerate on set, and I feel at ease when I'm around him. I can rely on him because we have something in common as brothers on the show," he said, expressing his trust in him.
At the production announcement, the station's announcer Erika Yamamoto served as MC.
