Why Hirokazu Koreeda paired Haruka Ayase and a TV comic in sci-fi drama Sheep in the Box

A-lister Haruka Ayase and television comic Daigo Yamamoto star as a grieving couple confronting an AI ‘resurrection’ in Sheep in the Box

. Sheep in the BoxWatching them enter one of the exclusive terraces of the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes, where Koreeda’s film debuted at the French resort city’s annual film festival last month, it is easy to understand the online commotion brought about by this curveball match-up.

Omnipresent on Japanese magazine covers and advertising billboards, Ayase arrives in a striped, multilayered designer outfit clearly unsuited for the heatwave sweeping across France. This does not concern Yamamoto, who turns up in a snappy T-shirt and trousers.

, told her who her on-screen husband would be. “Daigo is a comedian,” she says. “And I think the director wanted to put me alongside him, and then…”

Our Little Sister“In Japan, I think people do find us a very odd pairing,” interjects Yamamoto, who is well known at home for his appearances as one half – the goofy half, no less – of the network television comedy duo Chidori.

“It might have something to do with [Koreeda] playing on our differences,” he continues. “But when people actually watch the film, they will realise that we’re not such an odd pairing after all.”