#2(Part 2)

Jiro Sato, a regular in the works of director Yuichi Fukuda, known as the “genius of comedy” such as the drama series “Yoshihiko the Brave,” and last year he appeared in the NHK historical drama “The 13 Lords of the Kamakura” as Yoshikazu Hiki, who opposes the main character Yoshitoki Hojo (Shun Oguri). After the broadcast of the scene “The Yoshikazu Hiki Rebellion,” which depicted the final stage of the Hojo vs. Hiki battle, his performance was highly praised on social media, with comments such as “It’s clear that he’s not just a funny old man,” and “I was impressed by how he fought until the very end.”

On TV, he is well known for his comedic roles in dramas and his humorous personality on variety shows, but in recent years he has made a strong impact by playing serious roles that are the polar opposite of comedy in films such as “Haru wo Uruhito” (2021) and “Sagasu” (2022). Who is the actor Jiro Sato?

Honestly, I don’t know either.

–While you have the image of a funny old man in dramas and variety shows, there is a completely different “Sato-san” in the movies “Haru wo Uruhito” and “Sagasu.” Which one is the real Sato-san?

I guess it’s both of me. I only starred in “Sagasu,” but I also wrote and directed “Haru wo Uruhito.” I was asked many times, “Why do you make a work that is the complete opposite of your public image?” To be honest, I don’t know the answer myself.

However, something that Yuji Nagamori, a creator and producer I trust for the “Young Beast Mameshiba” series in which I appear, said in an interview somewhere made me think, “I see.”

“There is an image of Sato Jiro as a funny old man. That’s true. At a drinking party, he’s just a silly old man (laughs). But when he writes, a darker side emerges. In other words, what is inside him, what he really wants to do, doesn’t come out when he talks. But it comes out when he writes. That’s what makes it interesting.”

It’s true that my first film, Memo (2008), was about obsessive-compulsive disorder, and my second, Haru wo Uruhito, was about a prostitute, but both were about the inner pressures of a human being. Well, I did have some intention of intentionally doing something opposite to my public image, but I’m not that conscious of it.