He selected many of his characters from people who were not performers or new actors nearly equal to amateurs, such as Keiko SAKURAI ("Double Suicide: Japanese Summer," she had been been a job-hopper before the film experience), Ichiro ARAKI ("Sing a Song of Sex"(A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs)), The Folk Crusaders ("Three Ressurected Drunkards"), Tadanori YOKOO ("Diary of a Shinjuku Thief"), Hiromi KURITA ("Dear Summer Sister," which was her film debut where she played a central role) and Ryuichi SAKAMOTO ("Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence"), making a great success in exploiting their abilities in the works.
桜井啓子(俳優)（『無理心中日本の夏』映画出演前はフーテン族だった）、荒木一郎（『日本春歌考』）、ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ（『帰ってきたヨッパライ』）、横尾忠則（『新宿泥棒日記』）、栗田ひろみ（『夏の妹』本作が映画デビュー作で主演）、坂本龍一（『戦場のメリークリスマス』）など、俳優を本業としない人物や素人に近い新人俳優を多く抜擢し、作品においても彼らの生のままの素材を活かすことに成功している。