Six Questions for... Sakichi Sato

If you watch a lot of films from Japan from the past decade the face pictured above will be a very familiar one to you. He's starred in such films as Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer " and "Gozu", Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Bright Future", Tetsuya Nakashima's "Memories of Matsuko" and even international hits like Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's "Last Life in the Universe. Just saying that Sakichi Sato is a character actor doesn't do him justice though. The 40-year-old Osaka native didn't just star in "Ichi the Killer" and "Gozu", he wrote the screenplays for each film. He didn't just co-star with Tadanobu Asano and Sho Aikawa on the big screen, he also directed them in his own films, namely 2005's horror comedy "Tokyo Zombie" and 2010's "Yoshimi Yoshida the Insect Detective". Sato has also starred in the lead of his own screen adaptation of George Asakura's tongue-in-cheek sex comedy "Heibon Punch". While working on his latest directorial effort, "Hanbun Shojo to Zero Otoko", a comedy about a man who can see number son people's heads when he massages his genitals, Sakichi Sato took a few minutes to answer our Six Questions for... survey. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Blue Velvet” by David Lynch. It is hard to say which part but if I have to choose, the nightmarish humor throughout the film.

2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Directors David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan, but as a screen writer.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

School teacher or comedian.

4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Kazuyoshi Torii (manga writer, famous for the manga “Toilet Doctor”).
Takeshi "Beat" Kitano as a comedian.
Fukui-san, my schoolmate from junior high.


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“Shachnovelle” by Stefan Zweig. It has everything that I would like to express.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

I have not had it yet.


Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

Follow Sakichi Sato on Twitter here.