There has been interesting episodes about Sanada-san from "Aegis" official blog, written by several different people close to the production. Here are some exceprts:


April 4, 2005

While Sanada-san was in the latter part of "WuJi" filming, "Aegis" staff in Japan had to communicate with him through e-mail and fax. In Shangli-la, it took 3 days for a fax from Japan to go though.

Towards the end of the filming when the group was in Beijing, "Aegis" team sometimes went to the filming location and wait for Sanada-san to have some free time. Jan Dong-kun, the Korean actor, were with a bunch of his people, but our Sanada-san was always all alone. He was even teaching some Japanese action moves to the Chinese action coordinator.

So after the filming is over, Sanada-san invited us to a restaurant.

Sanada "Duck here is superb. Really delicious, and cheap!!"

So they went on eating, and the duck was REALLY REALLY good. Everyone kept eating without saying anything. Then, Sanada-san left, and the rest of the team went on to another restaurant to eat even more. And then, all of a sudden, this writer noticed;

Writer "Well, was Sanada-san eating the duck?"
Producer "No."
Writer "But that was sanada-san who said to go eat duck..."
Producer "Yes."
Writer ".......??????"
Producer "Look, what role is he playing now?"
Writer "An ancient Chinese general...."
Producer "He was swinging aroung a huge sword, right?"
Writer "Y..eah..."
Producer "He was in a spectacular armor, right?"
Writer "Yeah..."
Producer "He has been eating greasy Chinese food for half a year, right?"
Writer "....."
Producer "I don't think a major petty officer is built like that."
Writer "Oh, I see."
Producer "It leaves only 3 weeks until our filming. Even Sanada-san needs at least 3 weeks to lose 10kg."
Writer "10kg!!!!!"
Producer "So he was only eating vegetables at the dinner. Only a true actor can do that."

April 2, 2005

Last November, they were shooting a scene where injured Sengoku (Sanada-san) was rescued by a helicopter. A real Japanese Self Defense Forces helicopter and staff were doing it. First, A crue member were hung down from the chopper, pick up Sanada-san on cable, and get rolled up to the chopper. And then they take care of Sengoku back in the chopper. It was a very dangerous scene, and everyone was so serious.

Everyone other than Sanada-san were real SDF officers. The SDF helped to arrange all the schedule. Now that CG is so advanced, they could have done it without actually doing it, but such a dramatic atmosphere only can be made with the real actions.

So it was the final take for Sanada-san. For the last day at the filming, the top officer Furusho (see below) sent over a "tanka" (Japanese short poem) and a bunch of flower. (To send "tanka" sounds very classic - just like an ancient Samurai.)


March 28, 2005

On January 21, 2004, the Aegis team visited the Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Ichigaya, Japan, to meet the top officer Furusho who takes care of the filming of Aegis. The shooting was supposed to start from summer, and we had to have preparation and training before that. (Misty: I don't know how to translate this officer's title in English. But he sounds very high rank.)

So this top officer was smiling quietly, but we could feel his eye power was really strong. While the producer was explaining the concept of the movie, schedule, filming details, etc., the officer was looking back at him, and the producer finally moved his eye elsewhere. His eye power should have come from all his life-and-death experience on the sea for a long time.

So when all our explanation was over, the officer started to talk.

Officer "I have only one request to you."
Everyone "?"
Officer "Please respect all the characters in the movie."
Everyone "............."
Officer "I would like you to picture the people with the heart of respect."
Everyone "..............."
Officer "Even the spies who fight against Marine Self Defense Forces member have strong emotions to their own country."
Everyone "!!!"
Officer "Please make the film with the respect of each person's hearts and minds."
Everyone "!!!!!!"
Officer "That is the only request from me."
Everyone "!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And I got a big chill by the eye of Hiroyuki Sanada, looking back to this officer quietly.