Fruits Zipper's Suzuka Chinzei Cries at Stage Greeting for Horror Film Lead Role
The film marks Chinzei's first solo lead role and a deliberate attempt to discard her idol image, a transition that director Shimizu said she executed successfully by internalizing the character.
Key Facts
- Suzuka Chinzei stars in her first solo lead film, the horror movie 'Who Wants to Play with Me?', which was released on July 24.
- The film is directed by Takashi Shimizu, a director known for J-horror works.
- Chinzei received a surprise video message from all FRUITS ZIPPER members during the July 23 stage greeting in Tokyo, which made her cry.
- Co-stars include Anna Hoshino, Riku Onishi, Rei Mukai, Mabu Oguni, Hanna Muro, and Tomoko Hoshi.
Reporting from 1 source: Cinema Today.
Suzuka Chinzei, a member of the idol group FRUITS ZIPPER, broke into tears during a pre-release stage greeting for her first solo lead film, the horror movie 'Who Wants to Play with Me?' (released July 24). The event took place in Tokyo on July 23. Near the end of the greeting, the other FRUITS ZIPPER members surprised Chinzei with video messages offering congratulations, prompting her to cry. Chinzei recalled the challenge of balancing idol activities with filming, and said the members' encouragement had been a support. The film is directed by Takashi Shimizu, known for J-horror works. Co-stars Anna Hoshino, Riku Onishi, Rei Mukai, Mabu Oguni, Hanna Muro, and Tomoko Hoshi also appeared at the event. Chinzei described the role as a departure from her usual 'cute' idol image, and said she felt the weight of being a lead for the first time. Director Shimizu praised her ability to shed her idol persona on set and noted her positive aura brightened the horror film's atmosphere.
Chinzei said she received the offer last September and was surprised at how quickly the release came. "Around this time last year, I knew nothing, so it's shocking," she said at the event.
Director Shimizu, known for J-horror works, said Chinzei approached the film with the mission of "how to discard cuteness as an idol." He said her idol aura was successfully erased on set. "During filming, there was almost never a moment when I thought, 'That's Suzuka Chinzei, not Koharu.' She had already internalized the role and did it her way," Shimizu said. He added that when she enters the set, "the atmosphere suddenly brightens."
Chinzei plays Koharu, a psychological counselor dispatched to a school after an incident involving her younger sister Nanami (Anna Hoshino). The character is a sister who raised her much younger sibling like a parent. Co-star Hoshino said at the event that she saw Chinzei cry for the first time at the wrap party. "She never showed the pressure she felt from the start to the end, and she talked to us a lot about acting," Hoshino said.
The film follows students who engage in a forbidden game: blowing their name into a cassette tape on the 13th step of a school staircase, causing that person to die. Strange occurrences then plague them.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.