Takuya Kimura Overcomes Criticism with Grand Maison Paris Paving New Ground

Takuya Kimura, who faced criticism after the disbandment of SMAP

Takuya Kimura (52) stars in the film Grand Maison Paris, which was released on December 30 last year. It has surpassed 2.7 billion yen in box office earnings after its third week, with the possibility of exceeding 3 billion yen. Amidst this, Kimura’s transformation has also been attracting attention.

The starting point of this work goes back to the fall of 2019, when the Sunday drama Grand Maison Tokyo (TBS) was broadcast.

In the film, Kimura plays Natsuki Ohana, a maverick genius chef who earned two Michelin stars for his French restaurant in Paris. However, after a nut contamination incident three years ago, he loses both his restaurant and his friends, falling to rock bottom. He later meets a female chef with a brilliant palate, Rinko Hayami (Kyoka Suzuki), and they open Grand Maison Tokyo, striving to achieve the world’s top three Michelin stars. The story is a human drama about adult youth and resilience.

“At this time, the character of Ohana played by Kimura seemed to mirror Kimura’s own experience three years ago when he was thrust into the spotlight after SMAP’s disbandment and faced harsh criticism. The drama Grand Maison Tokyo could be seen as a recovery story for Takuya Kimura starting from failure. The average viewership rating for the series was 12.9%, and the final episode garnered 16.4%, marking high ratings. Kimura, who had been reluctant to pursue a sequel, expressed strong anticipation for the next project. However, the sequel was temporarily halted due to the pandemic. In hindsight, this pause may have worked in their favor,” said a screenwriter.

On December 29 last year, just before the film’s release, a special drama titled Grand Maison Tokyo SP aired, depicting the efforts to survive amidst the challenges of the pandemic.

“Looking back at the sequel, Kimura himself was satisfied that the staff and cast worked together without missing a single person, and the passion remained intact throughout the production. He mentioned, ‘Although it’s fiction, the air and time of non-fiction built this work, and when I entered that world, I didn’t need to consciously shift into high gear, as I naturally existed as the character,'” shared a producer from the production company.

Fiction yet non-fiction.

In other words, by living as Natsuki Ohana for a long time, Kimura has acquired the ability to naturally embody the character without consciously shifting gears. Looking back now, it seems that the actor Takuya Kimura may have begun to change gradually even during the special drama’s production.