Tuesday, March 27, 2007
お摘み (snacks to go with alcohol)
Odagiri Joe has received a marriage proposal from his 12 year-old Bugmaster (Mushishi, 『蟲師』) co-star Moriyama Reia (守山玲愛), and he's seriously considering it (who can blame him?). The second script (trace back) is done. Word on the first from producers in Europe is imminent. Tentative titles are, for the first film, Arrested Memories and the second, High in Heaven. Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (Aoki Ôkami: chi hate umi tsukiru made, 『蒼き狼 地果て海尽きるまで』) has slipped out of the top 10 ten after its #1 bow on March 3, and looks unlikely to earn Shochiku's original estimate of $17m. In related news, Genghis producer Kadokawa Haruki (角川春樹) is returning to the director's chair after a 10-year hiatus (4 of which were spent in prison). Scheduled to go before cameras this summer, the story follows a high school girl who is transported back to the Edo era in a romance that spans 400 years. The film will star Korean actress Ara (17), who made her feature debut in Genghis. Kadokawa also published a photo book of Ara recreating scenes from Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday. Actress Kuroki Meisa (黒木メイサ) loved Rocky Balboa (I did, too!), saying it "gave her courage" at the Stallone-attended premiere the other day. The film is titled Rocky - The Final in Japan. Kuroki is set to take on voice duties for animated feature Vexille. Kuroki also played a supporting role in Heavenly Forest, which we subtitled (trace back). I get hundreds of hits a week from countries all over the world looking for info on this movie. What the hell is going on? In the last couple of weeks there's also been a flood of hits for Udon. Is it getting a release Stateside or something? My basic French proficiency is 70% -- not bad after not studying it for almost two decades.
Friday, March 23, 2007
BKK -> NRT
Back from a week long holiday that felt like a month. The pace of life is geared way down in Thailand. Even the dogs and cats walk really sloowwwly. Coming back tonight to see salarymen rushing around was like watching sped up film.
As with the last trip, it was all about relaxation, swimming, local cuisine, massages, the ocean. Weather was incredible but there was one killer storm that lasted about an hour and blipped the power in the neighbourhood, erasing my last blog missive while I was in the middle of writing it at an internet cafe filled with kids happily playing online games. The ladyboy cabaret next door was thrown into chaos when their glitterball and "Dancing Queen"-blaring sound system went kaput.
This time I tried some Thai kickboxing and learned that my punches and kicks are quite deadly, especially to myself.
Movies didn't figure much into the equation -- I missed heaps of film news while I was away, but I'm not fussed. I did catch Bobby on the flight over and Deja Vu on the way back. Enjoyed both for what they were. There were the usual bootleg stalls at the teeming night markets, with titles such as Zodiac, The Number 23, Black Snake Moan and a lot of other recent releases on sale for 100 baht (just over $3) each, most with impressively professional sleeves. Thailand (as with most countries in Asia) is quite famous for their hand-painted movie billboards, with local hit The Bodyguard 2 battling for real estate next to the likes of 300 and Ghost Rider.
As for the picture, I was laying poolside reading my latest copy of Screen and thought "wait a minute, I've seen this before." Hmm, I think this is the only time Variety has looked cooler than Screen, for obvious reasons.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Fractal Friday
Took a break from work last night and caught the Kaiser Chiefs at Shibuya's Quattro (good size and sound, bad exits). T'Chiefs (as they're known) are steeped in the tradition of UK pop/rock, which I'm very into. At times they recall The Clash, Dexy's, Madness, bit of Mozzer, but especially Blur. The lads put in a high-energy show and there were many pretty young ladies in attendance.
Speaking of pretty ladies -- you won't often see me post "romance of the stars" type stories, but I'm in a light-hearted mood because I'm on holiday as of tomorrow. I couldn't help but notice these two simultaneous headlines at the top of Yahoo! Japan's entertainment news around lunch today.
Both are about the passion between two famous Japanese actresses and their foreign lovers.
The first piece was about Shinobu Terajima's first public photo-op together with her French art director husband since they tied the knot last month. They hit the red carpet at the opening of the Yokohama French Film Festival yesterday. She professed her happiness and thanked her hubby for helping her meet cinema legend Catherine Deneuve.
The second piece was about internationally feted actress Rinko Kikuchi and her Argentinian live-in boyfriend. This article (and another earlier one) depicts him as a bit of a bearded wild man since hooking up with the quickly rising star. One of today's gossip rags apparently published a photo of him taking out his garbage at their expensive apartment in Tokyo's Hirô district. Silly. It might have been a nightmare I had, but I believe he was on TV playing a Tom Cruise lookalike in a skit with the Kano sisters. I know he's with the main agency that handles foreign "talent" in Tokyo. I was going to write a joke related to Kikuchi's role in the excellent Babel, but you can make your own.
Instant Update: Hoga Central's Michi-san also just covered this -- I knew she'd like it!
That's enough of that -- I'm exhausted.
Translation of the second script is being polished. You've never seen an angel like this lead character...
From tomorrow it's sa wat dee khrap and khaawp khoon khrap for a week!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
His Master's Voice
Back in Toronto I was on the radio a couple of times, which I enjoyed. In the early noughties when I lived in Nagano City I would sometimes do voice over work for local TV commercials. At the time I was embarrassed to receive sometimes up to $200 for 10 or 15 minutes of work (it involved a microphone but nothing else, I swear). I fare quite well at karaoke (very dependent on the song, mind you). I've considered doing some podcasts, but I can't think of a good topic. Any suggestions?
Anyway, it was over to Suginami-ku today to record some dialogue for an actor who has an English-language scene in a major upcoming film. The production is waiting for permission to shoot in the country where most of the story takes place, so I won't mention the details just yet. Japan doesn't produce a lot of hard-hitting, politicized films these days but this project, based on a powerful novel, will be controversial. Very strong cast lined up and the director is ripe for a higher-profile picture. The actor who the lines were for came in at the end of the session. He was taller than I thought and lives up to his cool image.
Other than that, I'm just getting through the second script. It's sort of the oddball cousin to the previous one, but it's good to catch up with the characters several years later.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
短信
Been a bit biz-e since the Oscars. Did an interview at Entertainment Farm about Kurosawa Kiyoshi's upcoming Tokyo Sonata (see my Feb. 25 entry). I'm really looking forward to the film and I'm sure it won't have much problem finding funding at HAF or anywhere else. Mori has built his share of "Hills" around Tokyo, but I hadn't been to Atago Green Hills before, where EF is located. Wrote other stuff for Screen as well, such as the news of Spider-Man 3's world premiere at another Mori site -- Roppongi Hills -- on April 16th. Japan also gets the film before any other territory, on May 1st. Not a huge fan of the franchise but Peter Parker's battle with his own dark side looks fairly compelling. It should be for $300m...
Also baking in the oven is the second screenplay translation for The Director. This one stars a character who played a supporting role in the first script, though this idea came well before. Hope to report good (and more detailed) news about both very soon. Aiming to be finished this before I go back to Thailand for a week later this month (see my travel entry from last August).
