Famous Motorcycle Player, Kenta Kiritani, Next Target Role…

One day in mid-August, filming was underway early in the morning in a downtown area of Tokyo. Standing in front of a sauna store in a building district was the wildly bearded actor Kenta Kiritani (42).

Kiritani and his companion headed toward the entrance, but the sign on the door read “Closed Today.” Seeing this, Kiritani forced the automatic door open with both hands, and strode into the store.

We think this is the filming of a drama whose cast and title have not yet been announced. The production company is Kansai Television. It is directed by Michito Fujii, who also directed the films “Newspaper Reporter” and “Yakuza and Family,” so it will probably be a serious drama.

Kiritani has a strong image as a comical and hot-blooded young man in the “au Santaro” series of commercials in which he has appeared for many years, and he has appeared in a variety of films.

However, in the drama “Invisible” (TBS) broadcast in April of this year, he played the role of a psycho villain who is a police bureaucrat and a ruthless boss.

“I think he is getting to an age where hard-boiled characters suit him. As he gets older, he is not only tougher, but he has also developed a depth as an adult man with a sense of tenderness and melancholy. He is now at an age where management positions suit him. In the future, he may even play the role of the “big bad” at the top of a company,” says media culture critic Hiroyoshi Usui.

Kiritani is also preparing for the release of the movie “From Rageli with Love” in December. It is likely that we will be able to see an even more powerful performance than before.

From the September 23, 2022 issue of “FRIDAY”