News
Joe Odagiri, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Finally Reveals Feelings On Show
For years, rumors have circulated about Joe Odagiri, Kamen Rider Kuuga, and his reported negative feelings on towards the show. While on King’s Brunch, a late morning and afternoon news talk show on the Japanese channel TBS, he was questioned about his role on Kuuga and finally revealed his true opinion.
Transcript from episode that aired April 26th:
Odagiri: I really hated it while doing it back then.
Interviewer: You hated it?!
Odagiri: Yeah. It was not a project I liked but still had passed the audition. I really didn’t know what to do. It was either giving up acting by leaving my agency or just hang in there and do it. Those were the only options I had.
Interviewer: While doing Kuuga, right?
Odagiri: Yes. However, the producer, who is a very interesting and funny person, said that they wanted to “destroy the image that Kamen Rider had until then”. I then thought that was something I was good at. And I guess that became my motivation.
Source: Kings Brunch, TBS. Aired April 26th.
33 Comments
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rat
May 3, 2014 at 5:25 pm
The choice of words here seems kind of odd, do you have the transcript in Japanese?
riderbeat
May 3, 2014 at 6:04 pm
so, the conclusion is …
kidflashdbn
May 3, 2014 at 6:09 pm
Reblogged this on kidflashdbn's Blog and commented:
Thanks to Tokusatsu Network for this story.
Amy Kah Hui Quah
May 3, 2014 at 6:23 pm
well he is not the one who wear the suit right….other than that just a normal acting tv show
Xombiezach
May 3, 2014 at 6:57 pm
I knew there was a reason I didn’t like Kuuga…
xombiezach
May 3, 2014 at 7:02 pm
I knew there was a reason I didn’t like Kuuga and here it is…Say what you will about Decade or Masahiro Inoue,At least He’s happy to come back anytime and doesn’t reject this franchise,I guess every franchise has to have that one dick,Doctor Who :Christopher Eccelston, Ghostbusters: Bill Murray and Kamen Rider : Joe Odagiri. Screw this guy I’ll be glad if his career ends up in the toilet.
Joshua Hikigaya
May 4, 2014 at 3:10 am
Quite ironic that the actor of one of the most “hated” Riders is the one who is more than happy to come back and reprise his role, eh? 😛
TokuBreaker
May 5, 2014 at 3:45 am
First off, Bill Murray is a saint, second, Chris Eccelston didn’t want to be typecast as “the guy who played the doctor” after all if it means he’ll just get roles where he has to play characters who all act the same who would be happy about that? and clearly this guy wasn’t looking for Kamen rider to be his big acting gig. Not everybody has a pleasant experience during their job and would want to come back to it. This was obviously just a stepping stone for him to further his career as an actor and that was it.
tl;dr stop being butthurt over someone not being happy about their job.
Batman
May 5, 2014 at 10:12 am
“second, Chris Eccelston didn’t want to be typecast as “the guy who played the doctor” after all if it means he’ll just get roles where he has to play characters who all act the same who would be happy about that?”
Wrong. Eccelston HATED working with the staff. Absolutely hated them. Didn’t have a nice word to say about them. Had little to do with being typecast. That MIGHT have been the line that slipped out around the time, as a cover for the fact he detested the job.
But the point remains. He had such a bad time working there, that he had no intention of going back for the anniversary, despite the fact most of the staff had turned over by that point.
Mrmz
June 18, 2014 at 10:23 pm
He’s extremely famous and he’s been everywhere lately on movies and TV. Koreans seem to like him since he collaborated with them in a couple of movies movies (that I know of) and also had a main role in a chinese a chinese movie. That is to say his career is going forward full throttle & isn’t even slowing down. also he’s so dreamy. Since you’re so mad at him for not wanting to go back, that means you were fond of the character he portrayed, showing that despite his feeling towards the show, or the genre in general, did not prevent him from doing a good job and did his job seriously. That itself deserves respect. He is free to feel wtv he wants towards projects he does. Life is about experiencing different things and choosing what suits you. He found that tokusatsu isn’t his thing and got over it, nothing wrong with that.
Nindle
January 18, 2017 at 4:35 pm
When his agency pretty much forced him to audition for a role on a kid’s show that he had no interest in, I kinda wouldn’t call him a dick – he’s a human who isn’t 100% happy with every single role he’s given. Kind of unfair to compare to someone who hit the scene 10 years later since they’re also different people with different perspectives and different lives.
Also Eccelston and Murray had their reasons for not being involved, just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean you should wish the worst upon them, geez.
Shenaniganza
May 3, 2014 at 8:06 pm
This reads like he hated that he passed the audition, but then grew to like it thanks to the producer.
Srevua
May 4, 2014 at 1:19 am
I remember there was a statement he made a year or two ago about not having the same feelings when he started as when it ended like… he had realy grown close to the cast and staff and is even still in contact with some of them now and that if the Kuuga producer/director ever wanted to do something again he’d be up for it. I don’t blame any of the actors for not wanting to come back though, the way Toei makes these crossover things it usually doesnt seem like its worth anyones time.
Jon
May 4, 2014 at 9:40 am
True, the way Toei does its crossover in KR and SS yearly lacks the emotional depth compared to some shows like Kuuga. They were just there as a cash cow.
But if memory serves, Faiz returned for the 2014 crossover movie. And if I heard it was a good tale.
But yeah, you’re right. I rather prefer returning actors in a good tale than have them return for just the sake of appearing.
Joshua Hikigaya
May 4, 2014 at 3:11 am
Quite ironic that his motivation for destroying the franchise is what made the Kuuga great. On another note, I wonder if Hiro Mizushima (KR Kabuto) share the same sentiment… :/
Now I beg to ask WHY he hated it…
Nassuman
May 4, 2014 at 5:41 am
I don’t think he wanted to destroy the franchise, it sounds like he wanted to change the image of Kamen Rider to fit better in modern Japan. It’s obvious that the translation is kinda muddy and doesn’t convey his tone.
Jon
May 4, 2014 at 5:48 am
I think it’s because he thought Tokusatsu was childish and all about special effects. I thought it was like that too until I saw the darker Power Ranger series and Kamen Rider.
I think Joe warmed up to the role because Kuuga had the emotional depth and the maturity most tokusatsu lacked.
Sage Shinigami
May 5, 2014 at 9:06 pm
In Hiro’s case I think it’s just that he never wanted to be stuck doing only acting to begin with. Didn’t he write a book and hasn’t he stopped acting for the most part?
Nassuman
May 6, 2014 at 7:22 am
He’s also directed and produced. He’s one of those guys that can’t ever stop working. But I’d love to see him return to KR if not just for a short while.
Guardian07
May 4, 2014 at 3:12 am
First thing to remember; Japan doesn’t have unions or anything like that. As such, it’s not uncommon for productions to have long hours and harsh filming scheduling. Toei, in particular, is notorious for this. This aspect of the production is what Odagiri hated about it. As he said, he just had to “hang in there”.
And, as he said, he really liked what the producer Takatera was doing with the show, so he stuck with it. The reason he’s not going to go back to Rider is because Takatera is not going back to Rider, after the Hibiki Screwjob.
Jon
May 4, 2014 at 9:16 am
Do you think Takatera will come back to Toei one day? They did got Kida back to do Wizard.
Guardian07
May 8, 2014 at 8:23 pm
Honestly, I don’t see him coming back to Toei. After DaiMajin Kanon.
DaiMajin Kanon is basically Takatera and Oishi making a show about their feelings after the incident and them dealing with it. Kanon is Takatera, the Prayer song is the show Kamen Rider Hibiki, and Kotaro, Kanon’s cheating boyfriend who stole the Prayer song from her, is basically…Toei.
Also, Takatera was, and still is, a big time director in Japan and he don’t really have any reason to return to Toei other than by his own will. And that seems very unlikely.
Jon
May 10, 2014 at 3:12 pm
True, it was a dick move for Toei to fire him and the rest of the production crew halfway in Hibiki. I read the lead actor didn’t like the change and the people what forced the change was harshly reprimanded. I hope they learned their lesson. I think they did somewhat with Gobusters as allowed the production crew to stay.
Jon
May 4, 2014 at 9:29 am
Oh, so Joe may have been talking about the circumstances about his role, not the role itself.
In that case, then I can see why he wouldn’t want to return. Who wants to go through all of that work again?
I would still like for him to return at least once.
Even once would be enough.
Jon
May 4, 2014 at 5:41 am
I am not surprised about this. Joe did said he hated tokusatsu before.
However, there was a blog saying he liked Kuuga and came to the cast reunion and was willing to be in the Kuuga movie.
It appears he didn’t like the role at first but he warmed up to the role overtime and made it the exception.
I love the series and as much as I want him to return, it’s not likely he will as he’s a big name actor, which is why Den-o main actor didn’t return.
I heard he viewed the role as a phase of his career he moved past from.
I respect that, if he doesn’t want to reprise his role then he doesn’t have to.
We have to respect an person’s wishes, no matter what.
At the very least, he respects his role and that should good enough for everyone.
No matter what happens, I wish him good luck for his future.
grimfell
May 4, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Reblogged this on Kamen Rider Recap and commented:
Very interesting… Though honestly it’s not the first time he’s talked about his experiences as Kuuga this is still an intriguing insight into his thoughts none the less.
Saskia Armstrong
May 4, 2014 at 5:09 pm
What , he hates Tokusatsu ? Really ?
Batman
May 5, 2014 at 10:17 am
Yes. Is that not allowed? Alec Guinness hated Star Wars. Sometimes a job is a job.
theaverageguytag
May 7, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Sean Connery apparently DESPISED James Bond for being a sexist, drunk chain-smoker jerkface; only reason he stuck around was because of the big, fat checks he was getting for the role.
Toys Samurai (@ToysSamurai)
May 6, 2014 at 2:06 pm
Frankly, I don’t know what’s the fuss about his hatred towards Kuuga. Many people in this world works on projects they don’t like, but they all professionally finish their job, and Joe Odagiri did his. As you can tell from his response, he has no issues with the staffs/crews — and apparently, according to other news bits, they maintain good personal relations with Joe Odagiri. Personally, I think this is what should be highlighted. I’ve seen people who didn’t like the projects he worked on, ended up having bad relations with the other people involved in the projects. Imagined you have to go to work everyday for a job you really hate (but you have to do it because you need to eat), and still have to maintain good relations with your co-workers — all I can say is, it’s NOT easy.
Artunism
May 14, 2014 at 4:47 am
“I really hated it while doing it back then.”…. so not now……. still this guy is annoying
Batman
May 15, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Why annoying? Because he doesn’t like something that you do? That doesn’t make him annoying. It’s kind of ridiculous to think he’s annoying because he didn’t like a job 14 years ago.
Torea Ng
April 14, 2017 at 1:07 pm
I’ve been reading all these comments and it appears to be fair opinions, views, maybe a little judgemental and in all honesty, Joe I’m sure must’ve been on a mean roller coaster ride of emotions; hidden as well, but it must’ve been very frustrating, stressful, and very conflicting for him not only in this role but maybe some other missed opportunities we don’t know or understand that he may have gone through. True, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to put food on the table, maintain a roof over your head, but now more so he has a family to support, we can’t forget that. He also realizes I’m sure that other families of cast and crew, etc count on the stable, job security, success of the show that it brings. My grand kids enjoy the shows, reminds me of when my son was growing up, those other take-offs of Kamen Rider here in Hawaii, had to get the doll, hear him sing the song, watch him making those martial arts moves in our small living room apartment. He’s 46 now and his 10 year old son wants to know what happened to that doll now that he is watching the Kamen Rider franchise dvds. So if anything, this special movement becomes something handed down like a precious heirloom with families, it’s happening in ours, and they’re happy, thrilled to watch those dvds reminding them to do their homework first, their chores before sitting down to watch. I may not watch it all the time, off and on, but more so when the grand kids come over, its a joy to watch it along with them. Did you all forget about your other little audience/viewers, they happen to be the biggest fan of Kamen Rider Kuuga and all the others. This is now one of those childhood memories they’ll have for the rest of their lives unlike mine with the “The Three Stooges”. You all may not realize it, now, but that’s what you all have created for us in our family and probably other families who watch it. Why spoil it, now? Don’t they deserve better, who’s responsible for that now? You all forgot what it was like, what its all about. Do you know one of the definitions of what happiness is, this is one I remember hearing-happiness is when you make someone else happy, isn’t that true, that’s the moment of happiness. Anyway, Joe deserves all the respect along with his co-workers, staff, cast and crew, its a lot of hard work, agonizing, long hours of not having a normal life, but he’s entitled to say whatever he wants to say, he knows more than he’s not saying, but to be fair as much as possible, it’s not an easy job, what makes it easy too, is getting along with everyone on the show, that’s what makes the show too, good or bad, need to work it out otherwise it comes out on the screen and your viewers will sense it once they see it, and it’s not fair to them. Joe I’m sure has paid his dues in more ways than one, sacrificed a lot probably in more ways than one that you don’t hear about. You can sense his frustration if he feels that way that means something did happen to make him feel like that. I’m sure Sean Connery of James Bond felt the same way, it was probably suffocating him. I’m just waiting to hear news of if Harry Potter felt the same way too. So just lighten up,give him some space, be kind, someone is struggling if not having just as hard a time as you, let’s remember that. Have a great day, weekend holiday Good Friday, enjoy. Good Luck, much continued success to all of you especially to Joe and his wife Yuu, take care & Aloha ahui hou, Frances