This was billed as a commercial when I auditioned for it. The audition was for Martin Scorsese. He cast me, and he also cast a lot of guys from “The Departed,” all Asian American. The commercial, I was told, was for a casino in Macao.
So, I get to the set, and I find out that not only is it going to be directed by Martin Scorsese, but that it will star Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt. What!? But there they were, DeNiro and DiCaprio, and Scorsese. It was a night shoot at a downtown restaurant doubling as a casino, and we worked until midnight or so and we were broken. As I went out onto the street after changing, there was a big crowd of paparazzi waiting outside the restaurant, and then this limo pulls up and Brad Pitt gets out and heads inside. Flashbulbs pop, pop, pop, Brad Pitt is in the building.
This started as a commercial, as far as I knew, but in other places, like IMDb, it’s called a film short. In this”film” DeNiro and DiCapro are competing to be the lead in Scorsese’s next film, and Pitt is involved, as well. On set, I heard that the commercial was going to cost $60 million. Staggering. Then, a friend in LA told me that he had heard that DeNiro, DiCaprio, and Pitt, were each getting $14 million for this commercial. I said that that made sense because, obviously, Scorsese was going to get the same amount, and that added up to $56 million, leaving $4 million for the rest of us, and the commercial. IMDb estimates the cost of the commercial at $70 million.
$60 or $70 million. Either way, the most expensive commercial ever made.
http://www.ronnakahara.com
Ron is a New York City based actor/director originally from Hawaii.
He studied at the University of Hawaii with Glenn Cannon from NY, Terry Knapp from The Royal Shakespeare Co. and with noted voice teacher Kristen Linklater. While there he also studied Kyogen theater with Japan National Treasure Nomura Mansaku and performed in Kabuki.
Selected acting:
NY–Man In Snow (LaMama,) Ping Pong (The Public Theatre,) Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,) Earth and Sky (Second Stage,) The Three Sisters (Pan Asian,) Romeo And Juliet (NYSF/Public Theatre,) As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theatre,) Danton’s Death (LaMama E.T.C.,) The School for Wives (NATCO,) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pan Asian) REGIONAL– Wild Swans (debut), (Young Vic, London, and A.R.T., Boston,) Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.,) Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.,) The Screens (The Guthrie Theatre,) Othello (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta,) The Empress of China (Cincinnati Playhouse,) Cyrano (ACT, San Francisco,) Taming of the Shrew (ACT,) Diary of a Scoundrel (Hawaii Public Theatre) FILM–Isn't It Romantic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me, I Think I Love My Wife, College Road Trip. TV- can be seen currently recurring as Hirochi in Netflix's Daredevil Season 2; Madam Secretary, Elementary, NYC 22, The Good Wife, Fringe, 3 LBS., Whoopi, Cosby Mysteries, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, One Life to Live, As the World Turns, All My Children, Pearl, The Miniseries, Hawaii 5-O (the original).
As a director, Ron has worked at theatres and Universities around the country. He was one of the first 6 recipients of the NEA-TCG Director Fellowship Award in 1987.
