Fantastic Fest 2019 Interview: Takashi Miike Talks FIRST LOVE and His Prolific Career

With more than 100 directorial credits on his résumé, Takashi Miike’s output over the last 30 years is unmatched. His latest, First Love, is yet another excellent addition to his legacy as a filmmaker, and probably this writer’s favorite filmic project from Miike since Ichi the Killer (albeit, I adore 2017’s Blade of the Immortal something fierce).

First Love recently screened as part of the stellar lineup at the 2019 Fantastic Fest, and Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Miike about his involvement with the film, how he approaches collaborating with his actors, what still excites him about the moviemaking experience, and more.

First Love opened this past weekend in theaters in New York and LA, and will be expanding to more locations this Friday.

You have had such a prolific career. So, what excites you these days as a storyteller? And what inspired your approach to First Love, because it feels very much like a “Miike Sampler,” but also, very different from what we’ve seen from you before?

Takashi Miike: I'm not one to really watch that many movies, and the ones that I do watch are because there's something about them that just really takes me away, just really impresses me, and just grabs me. I'm not influenced by those films really in a direct way. I don't really end up critiquing films and analyzing them that much, just whatever I feel like I would like to try doing myself is what I want to be doing. I'll look at all of the materials and everything that's sent to me as a part of a project, and if I just absolutely love it, and decide that I want to do it, I don't even really care what kind of film it is or anything at all. I just want to do it.

So, there's really nothing intentional in all of this. It just happens to be what I love to do. It's just this very simple, pure feeling of just being absolutely taken aback by how cool or how interesting a film is and wanting to try a hand at it myself.

With this story, there are so many different moving parts, in terms of the tone, the characters, the action, and everything, and yet, if you weren't so confident in your direction, it could have fallen apart. But I think everything comes together here really nicely. Was it a challenge to blend all these elements and characters together and make sure they all worked in tandem?

Takashi Miike: My method may be very different from a lot of other film directors, in terms of the self-assurance or confidence in the direction. I think there's a lot of directors that are very self-centered in their filmmaking, and I'm really no different because I am just focused on myself and what's interesting to me. But more than that, I think what makes it fresh and interesting is the fact that I take a combination of the cast and the script, and I take what is meaningful in that combination to see how I can create a situation where everyone is going to just feel like they are so glad that they were a part of that.

It's really looking at the big picture, and that's very important to me, actually. Now you have the script and the actors and we want them to have a good time while they're acting. We also have the different roles and the script, and then we have the actors and their different characteristics and their virtues, so when you mix all of those things together right, you come up with something that's going to be always new and interesting, because those things are always varying, right?

What helps in these kinds of situations is that all of the staff and all of the people who are involved in the films, they have this stress that they have pent-up inside. They want to be a better actor or they want to play these different roles that they haven't been able to play so far, or they haven't been able to really be free, so I take that pent-up stress and I just let it explode. I give them a place where they can just release all of that stress and just let it explode and have a good time while they're doing that. And what's left over is the film. So, that's my process, that's how I feel like I keep things new and that's the way I've been doing things for a while.

There are a lot of fantastic characters in this movie, but I think Monica/Juri has the most interesting arc in this film and she becomes this emotional center amongst all of the chaos. Can you discuss tapping into this character that comes to represent hope and what may have influenced her story in First Love?

Takashi Miike: So, the character of Monica comes from the script specifically, and in regards to Japanese society, ever since I was a child, there have been a lot of incidents of domestic violence in Japan against women. Awhile ago, there were more incidents of kids perpetuating acts of violence on their parents, too. That recently hasn't gone away, but it's gone down and it's parents these days that are either beating or perpetuating acts of violence on their kids. At least that's what's been reported in the news. So in that context, Monica or Juri has survived these terrible situations, terrible circumstances, by finding her own way to do that.

But because she’s had these terrible experiences and suffering, she was able to meet Leo, and that’s where the hope comes from. Now, I'm not a director that really focuses on social commentary, that's just not my angle. But I felt like, within the script, I was drawn to her character, and felt like I wanted to support and use that part of the story to empathize with her. So, that's what led to Monica having a central role and the journey that she goes on in the movie.

I know we're getting close on time, but I wanted to ask, there's so much that you've done throughout your career, is there any sort of stone left unturned at this point? Is there a sense of freedom that comes with having such a prolific career?

Takashi Miike: So, I don't think I have absolute freedom to just make anything I want. If I had just absolute freedom to make anything I want, I also would wonder if it still added value to my body of work. But it's definitely something that I'm chasing; I'm chasing after that freedom constantly. At the same time, I think other directors look at my situation and they probably think that I have a lot of freedom.

I may have more freedom than other directors, but quantity also doesn't equal quality, and I have to look at the quantity and also the content of what I'm directing. Making a lot of films doesn't necessarily make you a great filmmaker, right? So I'd like to keep making a lot of films, but as I make more and more films, I discover new things, I make these new discoveries, and I find these new challenges or these new hurdles to overcome, and I enjoy that process. So, that’s why I continue to keep this pace up.

---------

Visit our online hub to catch up on all of our live Fantastic Fest 2019 coverage, including more reviews and interviews from the festival!