Ryoto (Fukuyama Masaharu) has earned everything he has through hard work. He believes nothing can stop him from achieving his dreams and thinks of himself as a true winner. But one day, out of the blue, Ryoto and his wife Midori (Ono Machiko) get a phone from the hospital where their six-year-old son was born. They learn that their son, Keita, is not actually their biological son — the hospital gave them the wrong baby by mistake. Ryoto is thrown into torment by this news and finds himself choosing between “nature” and “nurture.” Midori remains to devoted to Keita, even after learning about the horrible mistake. The couple arranges to meet Keita’s actual parents who have been raising their biological son for the past six years. Ryoto makes some very tough decisions as he starts to question the very nature of fatherhood. Like Father, Like Son, winner of a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, was written and directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, the internationally acclaimed director of Nobody Knows, Still Walking and I Wish. The film also stars Maki Yoko and Lily Franky. I sat down with Kore-eda and a Japanese interpreter recently in Los Angeles to discuss this very moving film.
Danny Miller: I was surprised to hear one of the characters in the film referring to a time in Japan when baby switching was much more common. Did that really happen a lot?
Kore-eda Hirokazu: Yes. When I was a kid, in the 1960s, Japan was experiencing a big baby boom, like you had here. This was also a time when Japanese couples were just starting to have their children in hospitals instead of at home. They didn’t use bands like they do today to identify babies, they’d just write their names in ink on their heels. Sometimes the babies would get bathed and the names would disappear. There were a bunch of cases of babies given to the wrong parents!
Wow. That history must make this story even more emotional for Japanese audiences.
I think for my generation, switched babies were not entirely uncommon. As I was growing up there were a fair amount of dramas and animé cartoons that dealt with that subject matter. It’s true that for us, the idea of a baby being switched doesn’t seem that implausible. However, since this rarely happens today I had to come up with a plot to make it seem more realistic in this film.
Ryoto’s journey during the course of this film is so moving. When you were writing the screenplay, did you know how it was going to go? Did you consider different endings?
I had decided on the ending, that focuses on the evolving relationship between the two families, early on in the process. The real question was how to get there. What does Ryoto realize in his journey? How does his situation affect his relationship with his own father? What does he feel when he sees the photos that Keita left behind? What does he really believe about fatherhood? Those were the kinds of things that I had to work on during the writing and rewriting of the script, and during the course of the production.
It was impossible for me to watch this film as a parent and not try to imagine what I would do if I found myself in that insane situation. But apart from baby switching, the story also made me think about all the different kinds of expectations that we as parents place on our kids. Was that a theme you also wanted to explore?
Absolutely! The initial impetus for the film was to really look at fatherhood and the relationship between fathers and sons. The switched babies was something I came up with later but I was most interested in exploring the story of a man who begins to learn what it really means to become a father.
Having seen several of your films, I can’t think of a director who works better with children. The kids in your movies always seem so real and natural, as they certainly do here. What are your secrets for getting such amazing performances out of young children?
The most important part is obviously selecting the right actor in the audition process. I talk to them a lot during the audition, we don’t give them “sides” or lines to read. In this case, I had the father characters talk to them and told them to respond in their own way. I always look for what kind of vocabulary they already have and then I try to take advantage of the words they use in their daily lives. That’s the style I’ve been using with child actors for about 10 years. The hardest thing for a child actor is when you try to force them to say things that are unfamiliar to them.
These kids are also cast so well in that you can see what looks like a biological connection to their “natural” parents in the film. Did they understand what the story was actually about? Did you explain the baby-switching plot to them?
No, I didn’t explain it to them at all! In fact, when the actors have to explain to the children that they’re going to be living elsewhere, they weren’t aware that this was going to be part of the scene so the reactions you see from the kids are very genuine.
Your films have such a complex and fascinating emotional palette. I worry that it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get such films made in this country. Do you think it’s easier in Japan for these kinds of films to get produced?
First of all, I really appreciate that you see my films that way. The truth is that it’s not easier for this kind of film to get made in Japan! Fortunately, this film has been very successful at home, but if you look at my film Still Walking, for example, that film was far more successful overseas than it was in Japan. In fact, three times as many people in France saw that film as they did in all of Japan. I worry about being able to continue to make such films in my country where audiences are increasingly looking for easier, faster films to digest. I’ve heard the complaint that my films are harder to understand!
But the themes are so universal even though much of the content is obviously very Japanese. Are there aspects of this film that you worry American audiences might not get?
There may be certain elements that are difficult for foreign audiences to understand. But ever since Still Walking, which was a very personal film, I’ve stopped worrying about it. I used to think a lot more about what films would appeal to audiences oversees and what themes would resonate with them but then I made Still Walking which was very much about my own mother and it ended being my film with the widest appeal. I’ve had people from Spain to Korea to Brazil telling me that they completely identified with that film and felt the mother character was their own mother. I realized that when you make a film that is deeply personal you end up reaching everybody, so I no longer worry about international audiences!
What other filmmakers influenced you the most when you were starting out?
I think the director that is made the strongest impression on me was Fellini. I remember watching La Strada and Nights of Cabiria as a 19-year-old college student and being completely taken by Giulietta Masina. There was something about her that really made me wonder about the director behind the camera — what he was doing to elicit such an incredible performance. I felt a strong love coming from the director and this was before I knew anything about their relationship in real life. That’s when I began to think about the role of the director and the love that goes into making a film.
Can you imagine working inside the American film industry one day?
Yes, I would love to. I think you have so many fantastic actors here. There’s obviously a language barrier but if the conditions are right and the pieces fall in place, I admit that that I have a growing desire to make something here!