“I’ll be honest: I hadn’t heard of Joe Sill,” Miyavi explains. “But he managed to get me this three page letter explaining why I had to play Jin. Apparently Joe had seen my acting debut in Unbroken, and wanted that same level of vulnerability for Jin's character. It took me forever to read his letter, because English isn’t my first language, but I knew I wanted the role by the time I finished it.”
For Sill, it always had to be Miyavi. “He was quite honestly the only person who could have pulled off this part. We needed someone multidimensional—someone as strong as they were vulnerable. I told my casting director, Lindsey Weissmueller, that Miyavi was the perfect archetype, and that we’d be lucky to find someone like him. She said, ‘Why don’t you just reach out to him?’ So I did, and the rest is history.”
What did director Joe Sill write in that letter that convinced you to take on a low budget independent film, especially after starring in blockbusters like Unbroken and Kong: Skull Island?
“I fell in love with Joe’s world. I wanted to be in his world. It’s so uncommon to see a story about Japanese characters, and I think that's because it's hard to capture the [nuances] of our culture. The idea of something like zen is so vague—it can be impossible tackle, especially in a medium like film. That’s something Joe and I talked about a lot. Japan is an island country, which creates a feeling of isolation. And it can also be more rigid than American culture... Even though Joe is [half Taiwanese,] not Japanese, we talked a lot about how Japanese people behave. I wanted to be a part of bringing this story and our culture to life.”
What drew you to the character of Jin?
“Like any of us, Jin could have been a special person. But he went in the wrong direction, and ended up using his powers to break things instead of using them to create. I think a lot of people can relate to that idea… I was also drawn to Jin’s loneliness, because I’m a loner, too. Not only did I grow up in a house that was always fighting, with parents who eventually got divorced, but I also felt an incredible amount of isolation after moving to Los Angeles five years ago. I remember being scared the first time I went to my daughters’ American school, because it was a different system than what I knew in Japan. I wasn’t even sure if my English was going to be good enough to say hi to their principal. All [humans] want is to feel acceptance and love, just like Jin."
Miyavi on set with director Joe Sill.
Other than channeling experiences from your own life, how else did you prepare for the role?
“Joe made a playlist for me, and that became my method of preparing for this part. It had a ton of Trent Reznor on it, and all sorts of surreal music. Whenever I listened to the playlist, I was transported to the world that Joe had created. Normally, I have all sorts of references when I’m preparing for a film. But for Stray, it was really that playlist.”
How has your decades long career as a musician prepared you for acting?
“To me, the two worlds are really similar. They’re both about passion, impact and intensity... I've been a musician my entire life, which means I've been playing the character of Miyavi my entire life. Miyavi has his own way of moving and performing—something I need to reset when I'm playing somebody else. What it really comes down to is getting rid of myself, of Miyavi, so that I can install a different character inside [my body.]"
Miyavi as Jin in "Stray."STRAY
What piece of advice would you offer to someone starting their acting career?
“Find a director who will give you the freedom to create. On set, Joe always let me tweak a line or try new things. To me, the first take is the most important—both in music and in film. You have all that fresh emotion. Even if the take isn't perfect, the second one will never be as fresh. It's important to find a director who will let you [experiment] so that things stay fresh and the intensity is always there."
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