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Making Cinematic Waves: Renowned Screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto on Writing In Love and Deep Water'
Entertainment
24 November 2023
GlobalJapan
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In a candid conversation, Cannes winner Yuji Sakamoto provides an insider's perspective on the making of romantic murder mystery In Love and Deep Water. Sakamoto has also inked a five-year collaboration with Netflix that will bring more of his stories to members worldwide.
From the inspiration behind choosing a cruise ship setting to a shift in his storytelling approach, Sakamoto reflects on the characters, genres, and aspirations that shaped his most ambitious film and largest in scale to date.
When did you write the screenplay for this film?
I wrote it between the end of 2021 and February 2022. That was after My Dear Exes and before Love With a Case.
Why did you decide to set it on a cruise ship?
I've always wanted to write a film blending mystery with romantic comedy, set in a resort, like a ski resort or a tropical island. In one variation, I suggested setting it on a cruise ship. I'd previously suggested a similar setting on a ship but was told it would be too expensive to film. Netflix was able to make this idea a reality.
What did you keep in mind while working on your first Netflix title?
Having watched a lot of Netflix titles, I simply wanted to write one myself-nothing deeper than that. Accustomed to writing TV dramas, where the production team changes for each show and everyone around me would be happy or sad depending on the audience's response to each episode, I became adept at writing under the pressure of an ongoing series. The transition to a different environment was much bigger than I expected.
Your recent works have gained attention for their social impact. Since In Love and Deep Water is a work of pure entertainment, is this title a return to your roots?
In essence, I consider myself a writer of what is commonly referred to as trendy dramas. My goal is to write screenplays that align with the societal needs of each era.
In the 1990s, there was a demand for trendy dramas, resulting in the birth of a diverse array of titles. But in the 2010s, the influence of TV dramas began to weaken. Faced with these challenges, I thought about the type of dramas that would capture the mood of the era, perhaps even capturing a sense of nostalgia, and wrote those screenplays in response. If my writing changed, I think its because there was mainly a change in the era itself. There was an element of that in My Dear Exes. The whole world, including the TV drama production environment, had been trending toward austerity, so I wanted to rebel against that trend and depict a flashier world.
You write screenplays that are needed by the world, rather than works that just fit society. In that sense, have you always been a trendy drama screenwriter?
Thats right. It might sound a little arrogant to say that a particular era needed my dramas, but I always want to show my love for that period through my screenplays.
This is rather specific, but it almost seems like you were predicting the future with the conversations about eating insects and the Cannes Film Festival that appear in In Love and Deep Water.
Well, I wrote the script in 2021 (laughs). Unlike TV drama screenplays that I write as theyre being broadcast, the script strangely started matching up with reality from around the time of the film We Made a Beautiful Bouquet. Despite writing it much earlier, certain things in it would become popular around the time the film came out.
Isnt that a really good thing?
It might, but as a screenwriter, I want people to wonder what a particular work is or means when it comes out. Ideally, people would finally understand it after about three years (laughs).
Ive heard that your screenwriting method includes creating detailed profiles of each character, even if they arent directly related to the story.
I didnt do that this time. I wanted to change my approach to writing screenplays. Unlike drama series, digging too deep into characters in feature-length films can take too long to get the story moving. Thats why I wrote this screenplay centered on the story rather than the characters. That said, I did have something similar to a profile for each of them in my head.
The very serious butler played by Ryo Yoshizawa seems like a particularly refreshing character, a type that hasnt often appeared in your past works.
I had an interest in the "butler story" genre, like Kazuo Ishiguros The Remains of the Day. Those who serve others, like butlers, are expected to be serious even when no one is watching, right? When I thought about that, I saw some humor there.
Were there any specific works you referred to when writing the script for In Love and Deep Water?
I didnt reference them, but at home, Ive recently been watching films directed by Ernst Lubitsch or starring Fred Astaire.
In terms of genre, would those be screwball comedies?
Indeed, when I was writing trendy dramas, a big question was figuring out how to make sophisticated romantic comedies in Japan that were like the Hollywood films of that time. Adapting witty dialogues between men and women or scenes of lovely parties to the Japanese setting was challenging. I still aspire to integrate those kinds of back-and-forth conversations and aphorisms into the context of the Japanese language.
If you had the time and money, would you want to go on a cruise like the passengers on In Love and Deep Water?
Not at all. On a long cruise, you have to get to know the other passengers. I cant imagine getting friendly with strangers there. (laughs)
(Interviewer: Koremasa Uno)
Watch the entertaining murder mystery that unfolds on In Love and Deep Water,' now streaming on Netflix.
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