‘Look Back’ Breakouts Furi Nanase and Rokka Okada on Growing Up on a Hirokazu Koreeda Set

Like the characters they would ultimately play, child actors Furi Nanase and Rokka Okada could easily have become rivals when they first arrived on the set of Japanese auteur Hirokazu Koreeda ‘s latest acclaimed drama, Look Back . Both 11-year-old fifth graders when filming began, the two actresses came to the film with opposite levels of experience and very different dispositions.

Okada had been appearing in Japanese film and TV projects since she was an infant. “I’ve been working in this business since before I could even understand things, so it’s like everyday life to me now,” she says. The young veteran was chosen for her role for her layered poise and Koreeda’s confidence that she was up to the task of mastering the dialect of Japan’s remote Akita prefecture, the place her character would call home. Nanase, meanwhile, was a total newcomer to the screen who had been scouted and picked purely on the basis of her natural, bubbly charisma and seemingly boundless confidence. Related Stories Movies Toronto Awards Analysis: 'I Play Rocky' Channels Namesake, Could Follow in Its Oscar Footsteps Movies 'Misty Green' Review: Rosalind Eleazar Is a Revelation in Chris Rock's Sharply Observed Love-Hate Portrait of the Hollywood Hustle

“I remember looking at her on the first day and thinking, Hmm, is she really so good?” says Nanase. “But then we were introduced and started talking, and I was like, wow, this girl is really interesting!”

The pair, who later shared their 12th birthdays on set just one day apart, became instant best buds. By the time of Look Back ‘s well-received world premiere in Venice last week, they had grown inseparable. As a duo, they landed on various fashion outlets’ best-dressed-of-the-festival lists, thanks to their stylishly retro outfits and adorable antics on the red carpet, where they struck coordinated poses and jumped in the air in unison.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Nanase and Okada on the Lido the following day for what amounted to their very first interview with the international press.

“I can’t imagine how I could have gotten through this whole experience without her by my side,” says Okada. “I think I would have been really scared, but instead it has been so fun together.”