Interviews and articels20-12-03

“I spoke up about many things, even though nobody asked me to, so at the beginning American staff started to feel nuisance to me, like ‘why do I have to listen to you?’ But when the Director Zwick showed with his attitude, ‘we have asked Japanese actors to join because we want to picture authentic Japan,’ the wall eventually came down. Hollywood staffs have done an extensive research through books and pictures, but sometimes they didn’t know how to do things in real situation. For example, there was a deleted action scene where I cut off the head of a Japanese guy with a derby hat. I actually showed that action with a Kendo move, and people’s attitude changed drastically. I believe it was about a month after the shooting began. Eventually people started to come to me with questions, and they called me ‘Mr. Supervisor.’ I went to the shooting site as much as the time allows, even when I don’t have to, and corrected the problems.”

Tom’s trainer!?

Sanada-san’s effort to picture authentic Japan was not only this aspect. He stuck with Tom Cruise’s Japanese lines as well.

“While shooting, because of the time limitations, when Tom could speak the lines without a mistake at a certain level, they proceeded to next. And I helped with his after recording (to record voice to match the screen in the recording studio) for those scenes. At right next to Tom, at first I spoke his Japanese lines with emotions, and Tom repeated them to be recorded. When his pronunciation was not right, I corrected him many times. If the viewers laugh even lightly at a serious scene because of the funny accent, the atmosphere gets totally destroyed. So they could not proceed without the permission from me, not only from the director. Some of them took 20 takes, but Tom never gave up and tried so hard again and again.”

Tom’s Japanese lines sound natural and even Japanese audience can empathize smoothly. It was the fruit of Sanada-san’s enthusiasm

Movie making Hollywood-way

It was Sanada-san’s first experience in Hollywood movie. Was there any surprise or confusion?

“As the budget scale is so different from Japan, costume and sets were much more elaborate, and the number of staffs was bigger as well. I was also surprised that they consume film, time and camera so generously. But the biggest problem for me was the ‘hold’ system. With this ‘stand-by’ mode, I have to be ready to leave home within 30 minutes when I receive a call. I am waiting with a high tension since the morning, like ‘call me anytime!’, and in the late afternoon they would call me and say ‘There is no work for you today. Enjoy your day-off.’ I have be careful to avoid accumulating frustration, to maintain positive attitude, not to relax too much, and to save body energy. As they cannot hold actor’s time so generously like this in Japan, I did not have such an experience and took some effort to accustom to this system.”

Sanada-san is willing to expand his stage into Hollywood after this, and says that he is “planting seeds” right now. We certainly hope that he will make it big with his fluent English, action ability and acting skills.