Director Hirokazu Kore-eda has established a personal rule to never feature a crying child on screen. Kore-eda did not provide scripts to the children cast in Shoplifters, The Truth, or Broker.
He did, however, give the young cast of Monster scripts to follow. The filmmaker noted that assuming a method used with one child will work with another is the most dangerous aspect of directing minors.
Kore-eda Hirokazu said, "I keep it firmly in mind that judging things that way – it worked on the last shoot so it will work this time, or a method that worked with the last child will work with this one – is the most dangerous thing in directing children." Ken Loach told Kore-eda he only instructed a boy to search for a missing bird in the film Kes.
Hou Hsiao-hsien joins in when children are playing in a scene, slips out once the camera is rolling and lets them keep going, according to Kore-eda. Every scene for one film was storyboarded by Kore-eda and shot exactly as drawn.
Sheep in the Box, which follows a couple who take in a humanoid robot built from the data of their deceased 7-year-old son, competed in Cannes. Look Back played in competition at Venice and is scheduled to open in Singapore on 29 October.
Kore-eda is currently writing during a trip from London to Thailand and Singapore. Kore-eda Hirokazu said, "I feel like I still have about half my career left, and yet it kind of feels like I’m being told it’s time to graduate."
The filmmaker released After Life in 1998. Tenzaru soba at Sunaba is designated as Kore-eda's last meal before dying.
