memoirs of a geisha (3 Viewers)

[babydoll_]

the movie adaptation is coming next month

zhang ziyi will be playing the role of sayuri

im still confused as to why chinese actors are playing japanese roles, but whatever

 

[bubz :D]

i'm looking forward to this

and yeah, the zhang ziyi thing... is it her mission to be in every asian arthouse film??

 

[fantasia]

just looked at a trailer:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/memoirsofageisha/

looks pretty good. Michelle yeoh is in it too

zhang ziyi's first major role in hollywood. Wonder how her english will hold up in the movie.

 

[Benny_]

Gong Li is in it too actually.

 

[Movie_Guy]

the movie adaptation is coming next month

zhang ziyi will be playing the role of sayuri

im still confused as to why chinese actors are playing japanese roles, but whatever

This isn't really a problem....caucasian actors do this all the time...like french people play dutch characters or whatever. I don't get why asians are so special in that we need to continously distinguish each group....it just means good asian actors can't ever get any decent parts. For example a japanese-american actor will only ever be able to read for a 'japanese' role....what kind of a career is that ? May as well give up before you even start.

Gong Li is in it too actually.

She looks really good for 40....I don't think she's ever looked better than in the trailer.....gorgeous. An early review I read someone said that she steals the film and plays the villain brilliantly. She's easily the best looking person in the cast, well from a male perspective anyway......the person playing her love interest might appeal more to the women.

 

[bscienceboi]

im still confused as to why chinese actors are playing japanese roles, but whatever

Just like Lucy Lu in Kill Bill.....

There are many decent Japanese actors out there but none which the American public would recognise.

 

[Movie_Guy]

Just like Lucy Lu in Kill Bill.....

There are many decent Japanese actors out there but none which the American public would recognise.

Did it matter at all though ? If Tamlyn Tomita had played her I reckon there would have been no difference in the charcater at all. I'd rather a chinese-american played that character than some foreigner from Japan, consdiering that foreigner won't be able to play anything else in an american film due to language barriers.

 

[Movie_Guy]

will it be in english..?

Yeah...accented english argh....not really that impressed by that decision. Should have used american actors.

 

[Movie_Guy]

then they would be geishas with a yank accent.....it would then be a comedy.

Good point....it's either than or the comedy of actually hearing this broken english type accent (it's pretty bad). And if it was all in japanese, the project would never have been funded as it wouldn't have enough of a mainstream appeal.

 

[breaking]

oohh can't wait till this movie comes out. i loved the book!

 

[bscienceboi]

Did it matter at all though ? If Tamlyn Tomita had played her I reckon there would have been no difference in the charcater at all. I'd rather a chinese-american played that character than some foreigner from Japan, consdiering that foreigner won't be able to play anything else in an american film due to language barriers.

No, there is no problem however a lot of people would pick up that Zhang Ziyi has been in many Chinese movies and being in a Japaneese setting wouldnt be as consistent for the film.

And to add to your comment about having a foreigner from Japan taking the role of Lucy Lu's Kill Bill character, there are Japanese actors who can speak english fluently.

However, like I said, Lucy Lu is more likely to take on the role because movies want to draw in a larger audience by having 'big name' and recognisable stars.

Having an all-american cast would also lose appeal to the film. It would be more authentic if the film was completely Japenese and there is no reason why it wouldnt appeal to the larger public. But being a lazy population we are it would be easy to just hear it in english rather than translate it ourselves.

 

[Movie_Guy]

No, there is no problem however a lot of people would pick up that Zhang Ziyi has been in many Chinese movies and being in a Japaneese setting wouldnt be as consistent for the film.

And to add to your comment about having a foreigner from Japan taking the role of Lucy Lu's Kill Bill character, there are Japanese actors who can speak english fluently.

However, like I said, Lucy Lu is more likely to take on the role because movies want to draw in a larger audience by having 'big name' and recognisable stars.

Having an all-american cast would also lose appeal to the film. It would be more authentic if the film was completely Japenese and there is no reason why it wouldnt appeal to the larger public. But being a lazy population we are it would be easy to just hear it in english rather than translate it ourselves.

You're right about why they did use the actors that they did....it was so they could get some name box office stars. Without that, there's no way they would have spent 85 million on this. I do wonder about japanese actors that can speak english unaccented....without the hint of any accent. Because most asian stars seem to be struggling like hell with it when they make the transition to Hollywood. Honestly, I don't think that many of them exist....there's nothing wrong with having an accent but honestly, noone is going to take you seriously in an american drama if you can't speak it perfectly and match up with the rest of the cast....None of the foriegn Geisha cast will ever get a colour-blind role.....they will always be cast as the asian foreigner because of this limitation. Lucy Liu is branching out...she's opposite Josh Hartnett in Luck Number Sleven. It's the romantic role in the movie and there's nothing asian about the part (well except the match up with the white dude but that's another issue entirely) You know, they do use african-american stars to play black foreigners.....they don't have to go to Africa to find 'true blacks'. That's how far behind we are. This film should never have been made with foreign asian actors. I don't see them going to Africa to find talent for 'Hotel Rwanda'.

Still, I'm sorta looking foward to this, if only to see one of my all time favourite actresses in Gong Li strut her stuff.

 

[fantasia]

yeh they could have used japanese american actors for the movie but it doesnt appeal to mass audiences, having no named actors and actresses in a movie. Especially in this case where it's based on Memoirs of a geisha, a bestselling book which has sold millions. It's a big hollywood production, and is said to be in contention for an oscar, so obviously they'd want some credible and recognisable actors/actresses to pull in audiences.

i dont really mind the fact that the three geishas in the movie are all chinese actresses, as long as they can make themselves look and feel japanese, that's fine. I mean the author of the book wasnt japanese, he's american. It doesnt really diminish the authenticity of the movie that much IMO.

The reason why lucy liu doesnt have the whole 'asian' stigma attached to her, is because she's american-asian, and also because she didnt migrate from asian cinema to american cinema. She's always been involved with american stuff. However, zhang ziyi, jet li, michelle yeoh... still have quite an asian stigma attached to them, because they've been involved in alot more asian productions.

Memoirs of a geisha is probably the first hollywood movie where asians hold the lead roles.

 

[bscienceboi]

Memoirs of a geisha is probably the first hollywood movie where asians hold the lead roles.

White Castle

 

[fantasia]

haha yeh i guess.. but that wasnt a really big budget hollywood movie.

 

[Mr_Shrimp]

looks pretty good. and i'm a sucker for michelle yeoh.. zhang ziyi i could do without.. her nostril flaring has started to give me the shits.

whats with the last samurai music in the trailer? is that a traditional japanese song or have they just pinched it from last samurai? (cant be bothered to check if it was produced by same company..)

 

[bscienceboi]

Harold and Kumar?

Yup. And the asian guy played a role in House today

 

[Movie_Guy]

looks pretty good. and i'm a sucker for michelle yeoh.. zhang ziyi i could do without.. her nostril flaring has started to give me the shits.

whats with the last samurai music in the trailer? is that a traditional japanese song or have they just pinched it from last samurai? (cant be bothered to check if it was produced by same company..)

That's from the Last Samurai. They do this with trailers all the time. It's most likely that this music won't be used in the film.

haha yeh i guess.. but that wasnt a really big budget hollywood movie.

Yep...white castle had a budget of 9 million. Geisha has a budget of 85 million. White Castle is more significant though....if that had made more money, it meant that people were willing to see asians in a new light. Geisha is as steretypical as it gets.

Yup. And the asian guy played a role in House today

John Cho rocks. White Castle was actually a pretty clever film. Lots of little subtleties. A sequel has been approved I think because the movie did pretty well on dvd and rentals after not going so great at theatres (why oh why didn't any asians from Aussie support this film ? I don't know anyone who actually went to the cinmea to put down their cash........they frickin downloaded it....well if you're going to do that you'll never see anything with people that look like you and talk like you do on the big screen again). Lord of the Rings and Batman don't need our money.

 

[bscienceboi]

OMG i so knew that harvey guy was from something i'd seen.

haha.. dominatrix!

Most people know him from American Pie as the MILF guy.

 

[RanyofuKenyan?]

Most people know him from American Pie as the MILF guy.

Teh MILF guy is awesome:

Milf guy 2: Hey yo! Man, your the guy who boned Stifler's mom! Hey, you are a GOD!
Milf guy 1 (Cho): Holy shit! Dude if I didn't have to hold my dick cause I gotta piss so bad I would shake your hand.
Finch: I'm honored guys. (walks away)
Milf guy 1 (Cho): Oh don't leave you must teach me, how... HOW!