April 2005
Premiere Japan
Hiroyuki Sanada Soars High into the World
--He Charms Filmmakers in the East and the West

A maveric detective, a businessman in trouble, a quiet samurai --- an actor with so many different faces. His body has marked so much active impressions on the silver screen which he admired as a child, and now he is drawing attention in the world-wide filmmaking industry. Always-evolving Hiroyuki Sanada has told about his starting point, footprint, and his quiet ambition with a hidden passion, exclusively to Premier.

(Written by Chihiro Hamano)


"Hard-work is not a hardship, but rather a pleasure, or a hobby."

Although his body is full of energy, he looks down when he starts speaking. Although his words, slowly come out as he taste them throughly, shows us his unmistakable confidence. He dares not to show his pride as an actor, or the strength of being himself, in his attitude as "Hiroyuki Sanada".

"I challenge something, and become able to do something that was not possible before. Since I was small, that was more fun than anything else."

He has been in the acting business since he was so young, and he remembers that he chose this "acting" himself.

"That was when I was 5 years old. My mother made me sit up properly. I though, 'Woops, she would scold me again.' Then she asked me, 'There is an offer to you to work in a movie. Do you want to do it?' I answerd 'Yes' immediately."

It might be from an innocent child-like idea, "It's more fun than school!" but anyway Sanada marked his first step into the acting world. But his child-like happiness lasted shorter than he thought.

"Four years after the debut, my family made me quit acting. They thought if I continued, it was not an ideal environment for growing up, even as a career actor. They told me to finish school properly and be able to do both study and acting if I want to act.

At around 9 years old when he quit acting, he went to the movie theater for the first time as a spectator.

"At that time, the screen felt so far away. I found out that I had been in such a wonderful place, when I became a spectator. I regreted that I should have continued no matter what."

At that moment, he realized.

"I started thinking, 'what do I have to do to go back to that world, what are the necessary steps? If I want to be in period films, I have to be able to ride a horse. I want to do sword fighting as well. I want to learn Japanese traditional dance. If musical, I have to learn jazz dance. I need singing, too.' I started making my 'to do list'."

He smiles as he remembers his young days.

"When I was in junior high school, I set my daily curriculum. At night, I practiced action moves three hours everyday. The time between school and the night was filled with Karate, Japanese dance, acting and jazz dance, one in each day. I kept thinking, 'If I take a break one day, tens of thousands of rivals surpass me. I will lose if I rest.' On Sunday, I watched 2-3 movies for training."


Want to be an actor recognized anywhere. Always had world in mind.

Many of the movies he watched around that time came from Hollywood and Europe. Even as a child, he started to dream "I want to become a world-class actor someday."

"The opportunity will not come around so easily, but I have to be prepared anytime. Acting does not get better just by hurrying in practice. What I can do now is to train myself physically, so I can acquire the skills to adjust to any types of orders. When I mature in acting with ages and experience, maybe those skills and experience come together to bear a fruit. I would feel happy if I can find out what I am at that time. I have been thinking that way since I was young."

Focus and concentration. Sanada has opened many doors in his life with them. His horizon constantly expanded in movies and live acts. In year 2000, Sanada joined Royal Shakespeare Company in U.K. as the first Japanese member in its history, and played Fool's role in "King Lear."

"Everyday after the practice, I got 3-page list of things to work on. I cleared them one by one. Even after the show started, I still got one page of list for a while. It was not until the last one month or so, until I could really enjoy the session." He remembers his endeavor with a smil.e

In 2003 "Last Samurai", he played the quiet sword master Ujio.

"I participated with the intention to make the film that Japanese people don't feel embarrased with."

An in winter of 2004, with the same intention again, he was facing with one movie. It was "The White Countess" by Director James Ivory. Sanada played a mysterious person from Japan. Shortly before Shanghai got burned down by Japanese invasion, this man worked hard to open a bar with his friend (Ralph Finnes).

"He has so many complicated things behind him, but he never shows it. It was a difficult role."

Surprisingly, he says, Director Ivory does not hold rehearsals.

"He rolls the camera from the beginning till the end. He only decides where the actors stand, and then starts. I could not anticipate when the opposite actor says, doing what, which lines. In addition, Ralph puts in so many ad-libs, and changes it each time. (laugh) So at each take, there was a fresh tention."

I asked him what was the meaning for a Japanese actor to play a Japanese role in this movie.

"This is set on the delicate era, which is deliberately ignored in Japan and is exaggerated in China. If it is pictured in a movie now, the role has to be played by a Japanese actor who is based in Japan. My role is seen as a vilain from the Chinese side, but if it is played willfully by a Japanese actor and the movie is shown in Japan, then the younger generation would learn a new aspect about this era and start wondering how to build the better future together. I hope it will be a trigger to remove the wall."


To go beyond the framework of Japanese movies - What he wants the young generation to see

Among his works with the world-wide release schedule, there is also Chen Kaige's "WuJi - The Promise." It is a story of somewhere in Asia, sometime long ago, without any specific date and place. Sanada played a humanistic general. The filming was done in many different locations all over in China, while he studied Mandarine for the first time, and it took 5 and half months.

"We were constantly filming at 2000m altitude. In Shangri-la (in Yunnan Province, 3900m altitude), when I was told to chase a running horse and stop it, my hands got numb even though I was inhaling oxigen. It is a symptom of mountain sickness. It was one of the three toughest filming among my past work."

While he tells about the tough situation, he still smiles when he talks about Director Kaige's nature.

"Everywhere we go, government and military officials come to see him. He is the true Last Emperor of movie industry. But when it comes to acting, he becomes a simple movie-loving boy. Adult and child are mixed with a good balance in him. When he gives direction in acting, he says something unreasonable, but I wanted to make him smile, so I tried to get close to what he wants as much as possible.

In Japan, he is the main actor of "Aimless Aegis", scheduled to be released this summer. It is about the huge crisis over a Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces' warship equipped with the latest air-defence system, and this unprecedented military suspense drama set in current Japan poses a question what is the ideal of the nation and human being. It was such a delicate theme and he had to make up his mind to challenge this role.

"I was very cautious at the beginning. But my role Sengoku is in a neutral position. He is a plain character but becomes involved in the situation, so the ordinary people can sympathize with his experience through me. I myself am ideologically neutral. I don't want to take any side, and if the movie required it, I would not have done it. The problem in modern Japan shown in this movie is something that the young generation definitely has to be aware of. Japanese people's lack of awareness about crisis in this lukewarm peace is almost abnormal in the world. That is why this movie's message is so important. But a movie should not answer what to do with the problem. From that viewpoint, this movie focuses on human side and is a good combination of political theme and entertainment."

About Director Junji Sakamoto, "I drank with him until the morning, but it was my first time to work so intensely with him." Sakamoto's impression; "He dedicates his life to movies. This expression is perfect for him." There is an episode to show it.

"There was a garbage on the floor of the location set. Director Sakamoto picked it up and said, 'If I pile up small virtues like this, I may get something good in the location set.' He thinks that the god remembers him picking up a garbage, and even if there is a difficulty in filming, the god will help him. He is not a show-off hypocrite. He would do anything for the movies, that's what he does."

It is so nice to find such a movie person in Japan. Sanada says with a big smile.


Japanese movie industry has to get along with the world with a feeling of tention

There is a problem, Sanada feels from his experience, about the Japanese movie industry.

"The international exchange in technical and human resources sides lags behind China, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We should increase the collaboration works also. Both actors and production staff should participate in overseas works individually, bring back what he/she learns, and contribute to raise the level of Japanese movies."

He has been running on the road of acting for 40 years. There must be something that he can see now. But he says he cannot rate his own past just yet, and that he feels like he is still before the debut. What does acting mean to Sanada?

"Before, I was saying it is the place for self-expression. (laugh) Acting is to eliminate all the artificial things once you start the show, and to make yourself as naked as possible. You have to anticipate all types of situations and prepare all types of cards in your hands. You have to be able to do nothing (artificial) with confidence in front of the cameras or on the stage. Maybe the process to prepare for that is acting. Once I become the role completely, that role comes out wherever you cut. So it almost feels like they are shooting a documentary. At that moment, I enjoy the feeling of a live act."

And he continues. "My target is myself. Someday, I will create the world totally unique to myself."

If the process to reach there is acting, then his days are totally dedicated to the world of acting. Actor with all his body and soul. That, probably, is "Hiroyuki Sanada."



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