The Naked Director

The Naked Director (Japanese: 全裸監督, Hepburn: Zenra Kantoku) is a Japanese semi-biographical comedy-drama television series co-directed by Masaharu Take. Based on the biography Zenra Kantoku Muranishi Tōru Den (全裸監督 村西とおる伝) by Nobuhiro Motohashi, it tells the story of Japanese adult video director Toru Muranishi.

The series premiered on Netflix on August 8, 2019. It stars Takayuki Yamada as Muranishi, alongside Shinnosuke Mitsushima and Tetsuji Tamayama. On August 15, 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on June 24, 2021.

The Naked Director follows the story of "Muranishi's unusual and dramatic life filled with big ambitions as well as spectacular setbacks in his attempt to turn Japan's porn industry on its head."

Executive producer Kazutaka Sakamoto came across Nobuhiro Motohashi's Zenra Kantoku Muranishi Toru Den in early 2017. A director friend of his had been trying to adapt it, but gave up and hoped Sakamoto could make it happen at Netflix. Although mainly taking place in the 1980s, Netflix expected it to be universal and relevant to contemporary viewers, and that it be a compelling underdog story. After the production was green-lit, Sakamoto brought in Jason George, a producer on the Netflix series Narcos, as a consultant. He wanted George's advice on depicting an outlaw character that viewers can empathize with and how to make sure the sex scenes would not come across as gratuitous or disrespectful to women. The discussions were so fruitful that Sakamoto had George supervise the script too.

On October 25, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of eight episodes. It was the first production for Netflix's Japanese branch. The series is co-directed by Masaharu Take and co-written by Kosuke Nishi, Yoshitatsu Yamada and Eiji Uchida. Mark Schilling reported that with "a generous (but undisclosed) budget", the writing team spent nearly a year crafting the script. The Nikkei reported that The Naked Director is estimated to have cost 100 million yen per episode, in contrast to most Japanese TV shows which cost tens of millions of yen per episode.

Take stated that without Netflix, the project would not have been realized as it would have been hard to get it on Japanese television. He said that the story is a mix of true story and fiction, as Muranishi told them they could be as free with the facts as they wanted as long as it was interesting. Uchida wrote "I believe that Japanese films have to change. They have to look outward and overseas. This series was made with just that thought in mind."

On August 15, 2019, the series was renewed by Netflix for a second season. In January 2020, The Nikkei wrote that the season would follow Muranishi's downfall, mirroring Japan's economic slump of the early 1990s. The second season was released on June 24, 2021.

Alongside the initial series announcement, it was confirmed that Takayuki Yamada, Shinnosuke Mitsushima and Tetsuji Tamayama would star in the series. Take revealed that Yamada was attached to the show from the very beginning, and said that Misato Morita "totally became Kuroki in her mind. She didn't resemble her, but her voice became exactly the same." In July 2019, it was announced that Jade Albany Pietrantonio would star in the series.