| 2004 |
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| Dec. 27 | "Aimless Aegis" official site uploads the new version of trailer video clips with Sanada-san all over the place!! (Clicl other sections on this site - there are several nice pictures of Sanada-san.) GOO "Aimless Aegis" official site Here's the translation of the lines: Miyazu (Akira Terao): Currently the targets of all the missiles on this ship are set on the metropolitan Tokyo. Sengoku (Sanada-san): Can you sacrifice your comrades to sink this ship? Atsumi (Koichi Sato): There still may be some people fighting within the ship. ??(Probably Kazama, played by Shosuke Tanihara): This country is better off being ruined once, together with us. Sengoku (Sanada-san): Sorry to go against your order, but it is my duty to protect this ship. So I have come back. Prime Minister (Yoshio Harada): I give the permission to attack. Yonfa (Kiichi Nakai): Watch closely, Japanese citizens. This is the war. Sengoku (Sanada-san): No matter how ugly, just live! |
| Dec. 22 | A Taiwanese site reports that they are trying to have Sanada-san in a horror
movie, together with Tony Leung. The news is not confirmed, but we need
any piece of info right now, so here we go: Yahoo Taiwan news → English Translation |
| Dec. 23 | Sponichi Newspaper FINALLY reports that Sanada-san is in "The White
Countess". -Sanada-san's hair style, "7/3" part, is seen for the first time since "Kaito Ruby" in 1988. -He got the offer this summer, while he was in "WuJi" filming in Beijing. James Ivory watched "The Twilight Samurai" in London, called Sanada-san on the phone and decided to make an offer in just 1 hour. -Just about that time, there was a violent incident in Beijing, at the Asia Cup Soccer final game between China and Japan. Sanada-san was shocked to see the hostile Chinese crowd against Japan, and felt that the only way to break this wall is through the movies. He says "I felt that the destiny was calling me to do this work". -He had to do "Aegis" and "TWC" in parallel; he flew to China one night for costume preparation, went back to Japan, then flew back to China for a week filming. He had not done this type of parallel work and was very tired, but was encouraged by late Tomisaburo Wakayama's words, "there are times that you have to go over the limit, but at those times, your body somehow follows your will", and made it through. -They took each scene in a long cut, sometimes 4 minutes, and they took the same scene several times with different camera angles, so they can combine different angles later. Sanada-san had to perform with English lines in exactly the same way each time, which needed so much concentration. He says, "If I cannot do it perfectly, they would think that Japanese actors are of no use, so I was almost in a fighting mode." -But in such a difficult environment, he was usual professional Sanada-san. "I don't feel satisfied myself if I don't do the best in any circumstances, and it would be an insult for other members. It was a tense but important occasion." -Director Ivory says, "Sanada-san has everything that Matsuda requires; dignity, sensitivity and sense of humor. In addition, he added the sexiness, something that was not in the original script." Sponichi article |
| Dec. 12 | Shanghai shooting is now over and they had a celebration on the night of
12/10(Fri). All the main cast members, including Sanada-san, were there.
Ralph, Natasha and Sanada-san danced around with the producer on a wheel
chair. The filming will move to Rome for indoor scenes after this, but
whether Sanada-san will be there or not is not confirmed. ChinaView article (English) Sina.com article (Chinese) EastDay article (Chinese) |
| Nov. 25 | Sanada-san's brief comment is on Shanghai Star article about "The
White Countess". It says that the filming will finish soon, and its
"worldwide" release is scheduled in Sep. 2005. Shanghai-Star Article |
| Nov. 30 | Sanada-san appears in aJapanese TV news, at the "Aimless Aegis"
set. He says: "Two typhoons hit this place directly. At the first one, a missle was launched by itself - together with the stay, and got blown off to a nearby area." "There were many scenes in the water. When things were going well, they didn't give us a cut - a scene was so long. And in the water, I had to hold my breath, so I had to keep swimming, thinking 'not yet!?'" (They show a cartoon Sanada-san here.) "It was a fight against the cold. They broght bulk of hot spring water from Yugawara and dumped it into the pool, but still it was cold. And after all, when I dove into the real sea in Yokosuka from the real Aegis warship, it was the warmest." Announcer says: "This time, the Aegis warship set was so well made that he held up his stance firmly, feeling like he was in a real ship." |
| Nov. 22 | Just learned "The Twilight Samurai" DVD release schedule in US and UK. U.S.: December 28, 2004 U.K: November 22, 2004 (Today!!) According to Empire Pictures, US version will include Yoji Yamada and Sanada-san's interviews at Academy Awards in Feb., but it looks like the UK version does not have these extras. |
| Nov. 21 | New photos from "Aimless Aegis"on Sanspo site. Sengoku character
is definitely so different from the original novel - Sanada-san is just
TOO COOL!! Sanspo (11/22) Webstyle (11/2) |
| Nov. 20 | Another "WuJi" schedule info from a Tiwanese site - it says Sanada-san
will be in Cannes, even though the film won't be ready by then: The film
is scheduled to be done at June 2005 at earliest, but the film is drawing
much international attention and Cannes Festival is inviting Cheng Kaige.
They are planning to send the four main actors/actress (Hiroyuki Sanada,
Jang Dong-Kun, Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung) to Cannes to promote the
film. They showed some still pictures from the film at American Film Market
on Nov. 3, but the detail story and the relationships among the charactres
are still kept secret. <This is what I guessed from the automatic translation.
It sounds like from the same source as the Korean news below. If anyone
can clarify, I appreciate it!!> Yahoo Taiwan News (11/16) |
| Nov. 18 | "The White Countess" info from Sony Pictures Website "TWC" synopsis "WuJi" release date info: Korean entertainment Website reports that "WuJi" debut is now planned on Venezia Film Festival. In Cannes, they will only show the 20 min. preview and main actors will just visit there (the article does not say "which" main actor - it focuses on Jang Dong-Kun). It also reports that Korean investor Show East believes that the film will be released in the U.S. after Venezia, in even larger scale than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero". Korean site info (Japanese) 11/13 Yet another "WuJi" schedule info: Sina.com reports that it won't even make it to Venezia. It speculates that Venezia will also be just a preview and the Director Chen Kaige's real target is 2006 Oscar. Sina.com news (Chinese) 11/16 Chen Kaige visits Japan: Director Chen Kaige visits Japan, meets Yuzuru Hisaishi, famed composer of Hayao Miyazaki's "Sprited Away" theme, and gives a lecture in Kobe University. When asked what he wants to say to young movie directors, he quoted Sanada-san's line in "WuJi"- "If you endure what is given to you, you will get what you deserve." Sina.com news (Chinese) 11/17 |
| Nov. 8 | "Aimless Aegis" filming is over. |
| Oct. 31 | We just added more "The White Countess" and "WuJi"
info from sina.com, thanks millions to Feline!! →English Translation of "TWC" and "WuJi" |
| Oct. 25 | "Aimless Aegis" on-site press conference was held at the Aegis warship set in Shizuoka Prefecture on 24th. The set costed approx. US$3mil. and 5 months to build. Sanada-san says, "I have not seen such a large scale set before. It does not break even though we do tough actions on it, so I am so excited." A few weeks ago, Typhoon #22 blew a missile (weighs 2 tons!) to the backyard of a house 1km away, so they had to fix it, which costed another $0.5 mil. Last week's Typhoon #23 was even stronger, but this time no damage was made. The set is 85m long, 35m high, and the total weight is 1100 tons. They also showed the filming of the climax battle schene by Sanada-san and Kiichi Nakai. The filming of "Aegis" is scheduled to continue until December. According to the fans who were watching the event from far away (it was not open to the general public), Sanada-san was very friendly and waved to these fans when he came out from the conference. |
| Oct. 17 | Additional movie information about "The White Countess" arrives. MonkeyPeaches also reports that "WuJi" release date is aimed at fall 2005. |
| Oct. 15 | Sanada-san's picture in "The White Countess" appear on the Chinese site. He will play the Japanese spy Matsuda in 1930's. He must be going back and forth between Japan and Shanghai, as he still is in filming of "Aegis". The article says that the director chose Sanada-san over Takuya Kimura, who was rumored earlier, due to his English fluency and his international fame. Still, the article says that he is practicing his English lines earnestly. |
| Oct. 11 | My Japanese source reports that Sanada-san will be in a British movie "The White Countess", directed by James Ivory, after "Aimless Aegis". I cannot confirm the story from other sources yet. The story is set in Shanghai, so he will be in China again. The rumor says he will join the filming in November. |
| Aug. 31 | Kick-off press conference of "Aimless Aegis" was held in Tokyo. Sanada-san appeared in short hair, together with Akira Terao, Koichi Sato, Kiichi Nakai, Director Sakamoto and other production staff. Shooting with those main cast will start from Sep. 1. http://escala.mycom.co.jp/pre_info/details/040831aegis.html http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt200408/gt2004090101.html http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/kiji/2004/09/01/04.html http://allabout.co.jp/entertainment/movie/closeup/CU20040831P/ http://www.zakzak.co.jp/gei/2004_09/g2004090103.html http://www.eiga.com/buzz/040831/10.shtml http://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2004/09/01/141576.shtml http://www.flix.co.jp/v2/news/N0005338.shtml Sanada-san says: "It will be a huge scale entertainment movie that depicts current Japan, and I believe it will be a world-class movie." (Sanada-san visited the actual Aegis warship in Yokosuka earlier this year, and speaking about that time,) "The ship crew treated me with their special curry rice for lunch. They were moving swiftly within the ship, and I thought the movement of the people who know about the ship inside-out are really beautiful. I would like to show these things that I leared hands-on in the movie." "The action scenes will utilize the special characteristics of the ship, and I believe it will be something you have never seen before." "I will work hard, being soaking wet." "The cast will be mostly males and pretty smelly, but (with these great actors) I am as comfortable as on a big ship." According to Japanese fans who were there, Sanada-san looked very happy, relaxed, confident and beautiful. He was not skinny, but not fat. (In the original novel, Sengoku is a chubby guy.) Both Sato and Nakai were really happy too, and they thought that Sanada-san will be able to work comfortably with them. (Even though they are good friends, they never worked all together.) The co-production companies, Japan Herald and Shochiku, are saying that they are working hard to sell the movie overseas as well. The movie is planned to be released in Japan in summer 2005. |
| Aug. 11 | Update about "TTS" DVD from Empire Pictures: the interviews are original, taken at the Academy Awards in Feb. Sanada-san spoke English and Director Yamada spoke Japanese. This release is for "Region 1" only. Our Japan source reports that "Aimless Aegis" shooting partly started early August. They took the scene of a fighter plane at Japan Air Self Defence Forces base in Aomori Prefecture. |
| July 27 | Empire Pictures, the U.S. distributor of "The Twilight Samurai", says that "The Twilight Samurai" DVD is planned to go on sale in the U.S. in December 2004. It will contain the interviews of Sanada-san and Director Yamada. I will report further information as I know more. |
|
Jun.8 |
A Japanese newspaper Nikkan
Sports reports that Sanada-san will be in a Japanese spectacle movie,
which will start shooting in fall this year. He is supposed to play
the main role, SDF officer Hisashi Sengoku. -The title is "Bokoku no Aegis" ("Aimless Aegis "). -A North Korean terrorist hijacks an Aegis warship of Japanese Self Defence Forces, and two men fight against the terrorists. -The original story written by Harutoshi Fukui swept lots of literary awards in 1999-2000 in Japan. -SDF will provide a full support for this movie. -In addition to Sanada-san, Koichi Sato ("The Spiral - Rasen"), Kiichi Nakai (Japan Academy Award winner this year for "Mibu Gishiden") and Akira Terao are playing, and the director is Junji Sakamoto. Sanada, Sato and Nakai are all long time good friends. -The production budget is more than 1 bil. Yen ($10 mil.), which is quite large for a Japanese movie. - The story includes some touchy issues, as Japan’s relationship with North Korea is very sensitive recently, and the positioning of SDF in Japan also is under a hot debate. Producer Shoichiro Odaki says that while he wants viewers to think over such political issues, the emphasis will be mostly on the people side as they fight against the difficulties. |
|
Jun.2 |
New information about Hiro and Jang Dong-Kun appears on the Web. |
|
May 7 |
WuJi - The Promise
On-site interview on sina.com |
|
May 4 |
“The Last Samurai”
DVD goes on sale in the U.S. |
|
Apr. 23 |
“The Twilight Samurai”
U.S. commercial showing starts in NY.
It records the top box office per screen among indies movies
over the opening weekend. More cities are added each week. (See “Links” for the movie reviews) |
|
Apr. 22 |
Hiro’s
pictures in WuJi appear on the Web. He has arrived in Beijing for the start
of shooting in mid April. Some rumors about the movie
appear on the net: |
|
Apr. 7 |
TV drama “Locked-in
Shokogun” (Locked-in Syndrome) is broadcasted on BS Fuji (Japan),
for the first time since the production in 1997. |
|
Mar. 20 |
U.S. Frontline
reports interviews with Hiro and Dir. Yamada |
|
Feb. 29 |
Hiro attends Academy
Awards Presentation in Los Angeles with Director Yoji Yamada.
He wears black shirt and black suite, with a white polka dot
on black scarf, and they sit right behind the winning Canadian team.
As the winner is announced, he claps with a smile. After the show, Hiro answers a few questions,
along with Dir. Yamada. |
|
Feb. 28 |
Hiro attends the
Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Symposium with Director Yoji
Yamada. |
|
Feb. 20 |
Hiro appears in
Japan Academy Awards as a presenter of “Best Actor in a Leading Role”
category. He wears black
suit and white shirt. While
he is opening the envelope, he thanks the Japan Academy committee
for letting him appear via satellite at last year’s award presentation
while he was in New Zealand for TLS (he was the winner of this category
for The Twilight Samurai), and thanks Rie Miyazawa for accepting the
trophy in place of him. Then
he presents the trophy to Kiichi Nakai (“Mibu Gishiden”), this year’s
winner. As good friends,
Hiro is in all smiles and they shake hands firmly with each other. Quite a beautiful sight!! |
|
Feb. 20 |
BaySpo (Japanese
community free paper) reports that Hiro will be in Chen Kaige’s Chinese
movie “WuJi -The Promise”. |
|
Feb. 19 |
Hiro
receives 13th annual Yodogawa Nagaharu Award.
Late Nagaharu Yodogawa was the most prominent movie critic
in Japan, and this award is given to an individual or a group who
contributed the most to the Japanese movie industry during the past
year. Hiro is the first
actor/actress to receive this award.
The selection committee voted fully for Hiro, as they recognized
his contribution to the industry through his international success
such as “The Last Samurai”, “The Twilight Samurai” and “King Lear.” Hiro wears gray suits and black shirt
at the award presentation in Tokyo.
He finishes his acceptance speech with Yodogawa’s signature
greeting, “Sayonara, sayonara, sayonara,” a bit shyly, and makes everybody
laugh. |
|
Feb. 18 |
Hiro appears in
Japanese News on International Channel (U.S.) and talks about “WuJi
- The Promise.” (See “BaySpo article for details) |
|
Feb. 17 |
SpoNichi reports
that Hiro stars in “WuJi -The Promise.” (See “BaySpo” article for details) |
|
Jan. 27 |
“The Twilight Samurai”
gets nominated in the U.S. Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film
category. Director Yoji
Yamada says in an interview that Hiro was the second one to call him
after the news. It was
very early in the morning, and he answered to Hiro, “but it is just
a nomination.” Hiro answered
a bit angrily, “What are you talking about?
Our movie is among the top five selected from lots of movies
around the world! You
should be proud.” Yamada later states in another interview,
“I was feeling a shame that Ken Watanabe gets all the attention and
Sanada-kun, who went through the struggle together with Ken, is almost
forgotten. I hope that this nomination will bring
back the spot light to Sanada-kun.”
Three cheers to Director Yamada!! |
|
Jan. 15 |
“The Last Samurai”
Taipei premier. |
|
Jan. 12 |
“The Last Samurai”
Bangkok premier. In Asia, Hiro handles the premier by
himself. |
|
Jan. 9 |
“The Last Samurai”
Paris premier. |
|
Jan. 8 |
“The Last Samurai”
Madrid premier. |
|
Jan. 6 |
“The Last Samurai”
UK premier. |
|
Jan. 5 |
“The Last Samurai”
European Premier starts in Berlin. Hiro joins Tom Cruise and Ed Zwick during
the Europe round. |