It has been revealed that actor Kentaro Ito will be starring in the WOWOW drama "Consultant: The Man Who Writes Death." This will be Ito's first lead role in a WOWOW drama, and he will play an aspiring novelist who becomes a consultant specializing in assassinations.
The original work is "The Consultant" by Lim Sung-soon (translated into Japanese as "Assassination Consultant"). Izaki Akira (Ito), a dull man aspiring to be a mystery novelist, is drawn into a mysterious organization called "The Company" and becomes a consultant specializing in "assassinations" who writes "perfect assassination scenarios" that no one will notice. However, he gradually becomes embroiled in an overwhelming evil and has no way to escape. It is a dark suspense story that depicts people at the mercy of the darkness of a capitalist society where even "death" has become a commodity.
This is WOWOW's first film adaptation of a K-literature (Korean literature), and it is directed by Hideo Nakata, who has worked on the "Ring" film series, and Yoshinori Kobayashi, who has worked on the "Unfair" series (Fuji TV). The script is by Masashi Todayama, who has worked on "Courtroom Dragon" (TV Tokyo) and "Galapagos" (NHK), and the music is by Hidehiro Kawai, a member of fox capture plan who has worked on soundtracks for "Quartet" (TBS) and "Brush Up Life" (NTV), and who also personally composed the soundtrack for "Jinji no Hitomi" (Fuji TV).
"Serial Drama W Consultant - The Man Who Writes Death" is scheduled to be broadcast and streamed on WOWOW this summer.
◇Story
Izaki Akira is a mystery nerd who dreams of becoming a novelist and works part-time at a used bookstore. One day, Izaki receives an offer to write a crime novel from a mysterious man claiming to be an agent for a publishing company. The offer asks him to write a story in which the target, known as the protagonist, is killed in a "perfect assassination" that goes unnoticed. Persuaded by Kurokawa's words, Izaki completes the novel without any doubts, but later learns a shocking truth.
It was the fact that people were dying just as they had written in the novel he had written!
There is a mysterious, invisible company that perfectly executes the special mission of carrying out murder. A mysterious female manager is dispatched from the company to keep an eye on him. The protagonist is caught up in an overwhelming evil that has even commercialized "death" and has no way to escape. Where does his fate lead him?
◇Comment from Kentaro Ito
-Please tell us how you felt when you found out you would be appearing.
The biggest feeling I have is gratitude and happiness. I don't think I've had much experience with the style of the work or the role. Also, since the original work is from Korea, I'm really looking forward to seeing how it will be portrayed as a Japanese drama and how it will be made so that everyone can accept it.
-Please tell us your thoughts about playing the role of Izaki.
I wanted to completely change the dual personalities of Izaki, an aspiring novelist, and Izaki, a consultant. Not only does he change from the outside, such as his clothes, posture, and speaking style, but his inner self also changes when he meets the mysterious character Kurokawa. I discussed with the director how to express this change.
Izaki is drawn to a darker side after meeting Kurokawa, but if he had met someone else, the outcome would have been completely different. Sometimes our lives change depending on who we meet. I also empathized with how Izaki continues to question his changed self, asking himself, "Is this really what I want?"
--Once again, please give a message to all the viewers and fans who are looking forward to the show.
There are many lines in this work that really take me by surprise. It is packed with things that I didn't know about or hadn't thought deeply about while living in society. I think it's a work that people who, like Izaki, have vague feelings about will be able to relate to. Of course, the theme is "assassination," but it also depicts human relationships and romance, so I think it can be enjoyed from a variety of perspectives. There are some scenes that will surprise viewers, so I hope that you will make many discoveries and enjoy the show over and over again.
◇Comment from Director Hideo Nakata
The original story is set in a world where a "company" contracts to assassinate people, making their deaths appear to be illness, accidents, suicides, etc., rather than assassinations of important people that are exposed to the public, and where there is a genius mystery writer who puts together the plots. As someone who has loved "perfect crime" stories since I was a boy, I was thrilled by this premise.
On the first day of filming with lead actor Ito, we shot the beginning and end of the drama together, and I was impressed by how smoothly he performed the dramatic transformation that corresponded to the "deepening" of his character. The tone is the complete opposite of the lively personality that Ito himself exudes, but I believe it has become one of his most representative works.
In this work, as in reality, the weak have the power of life and death in the hands of the strong. While the story unfolds like a nightmare, with assassinations occurring one after another, it is also closely linked to reality. I myself fantasized, "What if that person's suspicious death was actually about?" I hope you enjoy the story as you let your imagination run wild, imagining what it would be like if a contract assassination company actually existed.
◇Comment from the original author, Lim Sung-soon
It was the year the subprime mortgage crisis occurred in the U.S. It was also a time when news about structural reforms was broadcast every day like the weather forecast.
I happened to pass by a protest where people were holding up the slogan "Firing is Death." That spine-chilling slogan was the beginning of my novel. It feels like a miracle that a novel born from someone's sad voice has been adapted for the screen. I hope that everyone can share in the magical experience of seeing the words come to life on screen thanks to the wonderful director, actors, and staff. The film will be adapted in a country with a different culture and language, but I hope that the sad voice of someone who remains unchanged will reach viewers.
◇ Comment from producer Mako Hirose
When I finished reading the original work, I was overcome with an emotion I had never experienced before. "Humans cannot live without committing to the death of others. That is the system of this world." This line, spoken by the mysterious man Kurokawa to the protagonist in the play, most poignantly expresses the core of this work.
What if people died exactly as they wrote in the novel the protagonist wrote, and a company carried out assassinations to make them look like completely natural deaths? I would like to express my sincere gratitude to director Nakata, screenwriter Todayama, and all the other trusted staff members who worked with me to tackle the challenge of adapting this incredibly innovative story into a film, as well as to lead actor Kentaro Ito and the rest of the cast, whose solid acting skills made this ``impossible'' setting seem ``possible.''
We hope you will keep this question in the back of your mind as you dive into the world of this unique dark suspense story, asking yourself, "How does the 'happiness' that people feel exist in this society?" Please look forward to further news about the stellar cast!
