Five Months of Filming and 300+ People in a Fight Scene! Masaharu Take Reveals the Secret Behind Streaming Drama Success

Director Masaharu Take, known for his work on films such as “100 Yen Love,” “Underdog,” and “Lying Eight,” as well as the Netflix drama “The Naked Director,” has taken on a new Amazon original drama titled “Yakuza: Beyond the Game,” which will be exclusively available on Prime Video starting October 25.

This work is an original script inspired by Sega’s blockbuster game series “Yakuza.” The protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, is played by Ryoma Takeuchi (31), while his childhood friend and later rival, Akira Nishikiyama, is portrayed by Kento Kaku (35). The story follows the lives of Kiryu and Nishikiyama as they immerse themselves in the world of the yakuza, intersecting their narratives across two timeframes: 1995 and 2005.

This marks the first time in his career that Take has directed a drama based on a video game. With less than a month until the release, Director Take shared anecdotes about the production, his feelings toward the project, and the challenges and hopes for the Japanese film industry in the era of the booming streaming services.

 

Difficulties unique to a video game

―― The drama “Yakuza: Beyond the Game” is based on a blockbuster game, so I imagine there’s a lot of pressure and high expectations from fans of the original. With just a month until its release, can you share your feelings at this moment?

Masaharu Take (hereafter, Director Take): We were working on the production until about this time last year. We spent five months on location shooting and around three months in preparation, so in total, it took about a year to film. Considering that I’ve been involved with this project for about three years since its inception, when we finally wrapped up, I honestly felt like it had been a long journey.