The 49th Japan Academy Prize awards ceremony, a celebration of Japanese cinema, was held in Tokyo on March 13th, and Misato Morita was selected as the winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for the film "Night Flower" (directed by Eiji Uchida).
Morita recalled, "When I was a university student, I really couldn't pass any auditions, I had no work, and it was the year everyone was job hunting, so I was thinking maybe I should give up acting too." She continued, "At the Japan Academy Awards that year (2018), Yu Aoi won an award for her film 'She's a Bird That Never Knew Her Name,' and I watched on screen as she said on stage, 'Movies are really great and wonderful things, so please come into the film industry,' and I was one of those people who was encouraged, thinking, 'I could never go, but I want to go, maybe I should try a little harder.'" She added, "It's still hard to believe that Ms. Aoi was sitting next to me just now, and I want to tell my past self, 'Thank you for not giving up.'"
Regarding the film in which she played a martial artist, she expressed her gratitude, saying, "At the first practice, Mr. Uchida said, 'I got dizzy from the cat punches,' so I really started from a point where I couldn't do it at all. But Mr. Uchida kept believing in me, and it felt like Ms. Keiko Kitagawa was sharing her light with me, so I really feel that I was able to see such a wonderful sight thanks to everyone on the 'Night Flower' team. Thank you so much."
She added, "I hope that today will be a day that can give a little push to anyone watching on TV who might be feeling discouraged about their acting career."
◇The winners of the Best Supporting Actress Award are as follows (titles omitted):
Yu Aoi "TOKYO Taxi" ▽ Mitsuki Takahata "National Treasure" ▽ Shinobu Terajima "National Treasure" ▽ Misato Morita"Night Flower" ▽ Nana Mori "National Treasure"
