ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Touch star Kōki about the new romance drama and her role as young Miko. Written and directed by Baltasar Kormáku, it is based on the novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson. Focus Features releases the film in theaters starting today, July 12.
“A romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents; Touch follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: It’s such a pleasure to be speaking to you about Touch, which is a really lovely film. You play young Miko, and the film spans over 50 years. It is a really pure love story. What really grabbed your interest about this project?
Kōki: When I first read the novel, I instantly fell in love with the story, and then I loved how delicately and beautifully the love was portrayed. I remember crying a lot reading the novel, and also the script. It was so emotional and so touching. I think it’s really rare to be able to find such beautiful love stories nowadays. I fell in love with the story, so I felt like I really wanted to participate in it.
You do a lovely job in the film, and you have great chemistry with Pálmi Kormáku, who plays young Kristófer. How was he as a scene partner because you both share very vulnerable sides with each other?
I was really grateful that I was able to work with Pálmi. He was such a wonderful person to be able to work with because I felt so comfortable, and I felt like I could really be myself around him. I felt like his presence really helped me relax and get into the role, like Miko, and then I had no anxiousness or any anxiety with him. So, yeah, he really helped me a lot during the shootings.
Something I found interesting about both of your castings is that both of you aren’t the most experienced actors, but you’ve both been in the entertainment space all your lives. So, did you feel like a connection with him, just a feeling at ease since there’s a similarity between you both?
Hmm. We talked a lot outside the shooting and set, but I felt like he understood me a lot and then that I didn’t need to necessarily say everything in words, but he would understand me. So I felt really comfortable and yeah, I feel like I didn’t need to say everything in words, but he understood me, so I was really grateful.
Miko winds up having this very complicated relationship with her father in the film. We learn why that is later on, but how is it portraying that relationship where there’s clearly love between daughter and father, but it’s a stressful relationship on both ends?
I was truly grateful that I was able to work with [Masahiro] Motoki-san and he was really, truly passionate and really concentrated about the work. He would tell me, like he was saying, “Oh, what do you think? What kind of level do you think they are? Would they be really close when they’re at home?” And then he would make these kind of discussions as well outside set.
So that really helped me into thinking about how close they really were and then how… not controlling, but I mean, the father had a very big influence on Miko, so that really kind of shaped her character in a way that she kind of builds like a wall in herself and that kind of shelters herself in a way, but Kristófer gradually breaks that and really melts the ice inside Miko. So I think that is a key fabric of what makes Miko’s complex side.
Miko’s family runs this Japanese restaurant where a lot of your scenes take place. There’s this great scene where you’re teaching Kristófer how to make a traditional Japanese breakfast. Did you feel comfortable doing the cooking scenes, or was that something you had to develop for this film?
Actually, I didn’t do the cooking scenes, but I was really amazed at seeing Pálmi doing all the cooking lessons because he was really good at it. Then seeing his effort and determination in learning Japanese, and I was really surprised at how quickly he picked up Japanese and his pronunciations were wonderful, like perfect. So I was amazed.
Later in the movie we see Yoko Narahashi play the older version of Miko. Did you get to speak to her any or was it mostly the director who was making sure there was like a connectivity between the younger and older versions of the character?
So when we were shooting, she came on set and saw me acting [as] the younger Miko. She didn’t have scenes on those days, but she came on set, and she was looking at me acting. She was saying that she wanted to see me acting in order to pick up certain habits or atmospheres that Miko portrays.
There’s something that I remember her asking me. She said, “What do you think about when you look into Kristófer’s eyes?” I don’t remember the specific name, but there’s a very, very beautiful lake in Iceland. I said his eyes are kind of like a similar color of that beautiful lake. Then she was saying that she would think about that lake when she was acting as the older Miko. So I think, yeah, she’s looking at me acting the younger Miko and then sharing certain information about acting was something that she incorporated for the older Miko.
You’ve done music, you’ve modeled, you act, you have a love for a lot of entertainment. How has it been trying to find a balance in your pursuits and make sure you’re not spreading yourself too thin with all these endeavors?
I always think that I would love to continue challenging myself. So now I really think that I want to try new genres of acting with different characters, different teams, and different cultures. So yeah, sometimes it is difficult to balance modeling and acting because there’s so much flying and so much going to different places. So, the schedule is kind of all over the place, but I want to make sure to be able to continue challenging myself in acting.
You have Tornado coming out. I saw you worked with Tim Roth on that. He is one of my favorite actors. What can we kind of expect from that?
I would say it’s an action thriller kind of movie, and then it is such a beautiful landscape. It was shot with film, so I think it’s like a very beautiful, thrilling, emotional and a very fast-paced and lively kind of film. It was my first time challenging myself in action, a little bit of traditional Japanese sword fighting. And then it’s also a mix of different cultures, the Western and the Japanese cultures. So I think that is a huge point as well.
Thanks to Kōki for discussing Touch.
