Junichi Okada appears in McDonald's "Chiki Chicken THE Garlic Pepper" new TV commercial! Play twin adventurers

■”It was my first experience playing twins (lol). I’ve been acting for about 30 years, but… it’s probably my first time.” (Junichi Okada)

A new TV commercial for McDonald’s popular side menu “Chiki Chicken THE Garlic Pepper” starring Junichi Okada as twin adventurers will be aired from October 29th.

“Chiki Chicken THE Garlic Pepper” is a “two-piece” chicken side menu that first appeared in 2022 and is popularly known as “Mac THE CHICKEN.” Now in its third year, the name has been changed to “Chiki Chicken” to express the fact that it can be easily enjoyed in a pack of two.

“Chiki Chicken” is made with chicken and chicken. This new commercial grandly conveys the charm of a double-pack of dreams and the spicy stimulation of garlic through Okada’s comical acting and adventure movie style, both of which are twin adventurers. In addition, various measures such as the X campaign are also being prepared. Please check the campaign details page for details.

■Photography episode
◇This is her first role as a twin in her long career as an actor. Okada takes on the challenge of differentiating the roles of the brothers.
“It’s my first time playing twin brothers by myself, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Okada, who will be taking on the role of twins for the first time in his nearly 30-year career as an actor. After finishing his meeting with the director, he looked at the art set that had been set up in the vast studio, complete with an adventure feel, including ruins and caves, and the actor’s expression was already full of motivation. Although the older brother and younger brother can be easily distinguished by their different hairstyles and costume colors, Okada said, “I want to change the play a little bit,” and tried to differentiate the brothers even further by making subtle adjustments to the way they speak their lines and their facial expressions. However, I went to shoot.

◇A solo performance of two brothers who work together to get through a crisis
Even in the scene where they are captured during an adventure, Okada alternates between playing the role of the older brother and the younger brother who are tied up with rope. “Chicken and chicken… Chitty Chicken!” Just like “Chitty Chicken,” which becomes even more appealing with two chickens, we wanted to create a tense scene in which an older brother and younger brother work together to overcome a crisis. , Okada played the roles of two brothers while carefully adjusting the timing of his lines and facial expressions, searching for the best performance, and checking the footage.

◇The studio was filled with laughter with their comical act of giving in to each other, saying, “Please, please!”
In the scene where they cross a river of lava, where the heat is boiling, the scenario was filmed in a comical way, with the older brother and younger brother giving each other their turn to cross, despite the tense atmosphere of imminent danger. When Okada performs an improvisational act in which he hesitantly gives in, saying, “Please, please! Please go first!”, the atmosphere is as funny as a scene from a skit, and the surrounding staff burst into laughter. Even when he was filming for the role of the younger brother, he showed a perfect performance, saying, “Please, please! Please take it from me, big brother!” He drew laughter from those around him with his lines in a light tone that made it hard to believe that he was acting with a serious expression.

◇Okada truly enjoys action. His expression resembles that of an innocent boy.
In the scene where he gets on a trolley and races away, Okada looks as excited as an innocent boy. However, when it came to the actual shooting, it overwhelmed the surroundings with a sense of realism and tension, as if they were riding on a real trolley sliding at breakneck speed. Once again, they performed the actions of two people that worked well together, making it hard to believe that they were acting alone, and smoothly won the OK take. In the audio recording that followed, he said, “Oh, right now it’s my younger brother (lol)”, showing off the different roles he was particular about.

◇Okada thrills the studio with his amazing horsemanship that makes you see a real horse.
Okada continues to perform many action scenes, but the scene where he gallops on a horse was the most famous performance of the day, and he thrilled the studio. Okada, who has shown off his superb horsemanship in numerous works including taiga dramas, faced the camera with a confident look on his face and said, “I’ll do my best to show it off,” and they had a careful discussion about the details of the set, such as the height of the reins. Later, he showed off how he was riding it perfectly while shifting his weight rhythmically. Despite filming using a set that was not a real horse, the director praised the film, saying, “You could see the horses!” Okada’s realistic performance drew laughter from those around him, saying, “Make it look like a real horse. Please squint your eyes (lol).”

■Junichi Okada interview
–Please tell us your impressions after finishing filming the new TV commercial.
It was fun. It was my first experience playing twins (lol). I’ve been acting for about 30 years, but this is probably my first time. I sometimes play older characters or younger characters, but I’ve never played twins before, so this was my first experience. It’s like changing the play little by little. It was fun to change the characters and have settings where I was a little naughty when I was younger.
— Mr. Okada plays an adventurer in the new TV commercial. Please tell us about any adventures or challenges you have faced recently.
The theme of photography is how much challenge you can take. The theme is how much you can challenge yourself and not get used to it…I’ve been taking photos as a hobby for a long time, such as of work sites and staff. Recently, I found a new theme. The theme is “I want to pursue this.” The theme is… “Attitude”. It doesn’t make much sense, does it? (Laughs) I like your posture. I love people with good posture, and I can really look at them for a long time. Lately, I’ve been wanting to photograph these amazing people. I finally found someone in Shiga that I wanted to photograph (laughs). I want to chase and photograph that person (lol)
–Please tell us about a story that inspired you, such as the phrase “stimulating like garlic pepper.”
I really look at the staff. I’m also involved in producing, so I look at how the staff work. I also take photos of the cool staff members, and I find it inspiring to see people working really hard, and sometimes there are people who seem like they’re doing something miraculous. I’m really inspired by the staff who keep things in focus and work hard to make their voices heard. There are so many things that I get inspired by my co-workers.
–The new TV commercial depicts two chickens as twins, but if Mr. Okada were twin brothers, is there anything you would like to do?
At least once (laughs) I’ll do it at least once, but it doesn’t matter if someone else wants to do it or not, I want to do it (lol). I also admire things like jiu-jitsu competitions. I mean, you can practice all the time… It looks like it’s going to be fun when you have siblings who practice together. But I wonder if the techniques are similar…Is it the same technique? It will sync. If we’re really similar, we can swap places (lol) when we go to work. I was wondering if they would find out or not (lol). There are two people who look so much alike…in fact, they’re twins, and if they were on set and proudly said, “I’m Okada,” I don’t think anyone would be able to hear it. I would like to try something like that (lol)
–Please give a message to the viewers who will be watching the new TV commercial.
This year as well, we will be introducing “Tiki Chicken THE Garlic Pepper,” a chicken side menu with the addictive taste of black pepper and garlic. Chiki chicken with chicken and chicken. It’s a dream come true with 2 pieces, and it’s crispy. I can’t stop eating garlic pepper. In addition, at night Mac, we will also be offering “Tabe Comparison Potenage,” which is a potenage with tiki chicken in it. Please enjoy it at McDonald’s nationwide from Wednesday, October 30th.