Job Discussion Forums

blue jay · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 5:45 am Post subject: Memoirs of a Geisha..the movie..

The movie Memoirs of a Geisha starts filming this fall in Japan with mainly Chinese actresses and a few Japanese actors & actresses:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1287349,00.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397535/
http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=4738

Do you think the casting will be controversial in Japan?

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

How many Japanese actresses can you think of that speak English?

blue jay · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 5:52 am Post subject:

That's true..how many are there? I'm curious about that myself. I watched many Japanese TV dramas and I often wondered if any of those Japanese actors or actresses could speak English, would they act in Hollywood movies? Does anyone know if any of them do?

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Yuki Kudoh Is the only one I have seen in a Hollywood movie and
Baisho Chieko (the sister in the Tora-san movies) was in an independent movie set in the US a few years ago.

There was another Japanese-American actress called Morita Tomita (?) but I think she was more American thand Japanese.

I believe Fujiwara Norika speaks some English as well but not perfectly.

skarp · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 50

Duplicate post - deleted...

skarp · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 50

It's all about box office marketability, innit?

There are no big name Japanese stars on the Hollywood scene.

Speilberg is hardly gonna be a stickler for using Japanese actors even when it's obvious to anyone who's been in Asia that the Chinese will look wrong, act wrong and just be wrong. He's not the most careful film maker after all.

The film will be a big hit, thanks to the talents of the cast, the quality of the book and the timeless appeal of the Geisha mystique. Speilberg's good at spotting a hit and telling the story in a manner that's simple to understand.

Is memoirs of a Geisha an important book in Japan?

Was there much controversy about The Last Samurai being basically ludicrous?

I read the Memoirs of a Geisha. It felt authentic, though I'm not sure it was
I'll see the film (unlike the Last Samurai). I hope it makes Zhang Zi yi and her co-stars heaps of cash....

I predict the average Japanese man or woman will not give a hoot. They're used to their culture and history being hacked about and served up for the amusement of foreigners....

Thanks to OP for posting the news.

Skarp[/i]

Ailian · Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Posts: 192 Location: PRC!

Lovechild · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 44

I think they should only have Japanese playing the part of Japanese. It remind me of the old western movie when Hollyweed would have white people to play the part of Indians. Well once again, Hollywood is being prejudice by hiring Chinese to be Japanese characters. Probably the real reason for this outrages discrimination is because Chinese will work for less money. I am so offended by this and so I will not see the movie, even though, I loved the book.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

I thought the book was entertaining, but I think it was highly fictionalized.

skarp · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 50

Well - it's a novel, innit?

It claims to be based on a geisha's recollections as far as daily routine and lifestyle goes, and there is a credit to that effect.

But obviously it's a work of fiction.

Big Chris · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 20 Location: Parts Unknown

Frankly if they are going to turn one of the greatest books of the last half of the 20th Century into a movie, ONLY Noriko Fujiwara could possibly play Hatsumomo. She is a damn good English speaker to boot so it could be done.

nawlinsgurl · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:01 am Post subject:

I am finishing up the book right now and I must say it is a great piece of literature...but is any of it true???

blue jay · Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:18 am Post subject:

Nawlinsgurl:

Memoirs of a Geisha is a work of fiction. If you want read some non-fiction books about geishas read:

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki

http://mostlyfiction.com/excerpts/geisha.htm

or

Geisha, The secret history of a vanshing world by Lesley Downer

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ath=Lesley+Downer

Hope you don't get hit too hard by Hurricane Ivan!!

blue jay

Ps. Here's a site about Geisha book reviews: http://www.immortalgeisha.com/ig/book_review_01.cfm?id=5

Dr.J · Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 304 Location: usually Japan

I read this book a few months ago.

It's not true, obviously, but the historical world is not grossly inaccurate.

I was a bit surprised when they chose a Chinese actress, especially because nowadays people are getting more picky about 'authentic' storylines.

But it's not such a big deal. If a French person was chosen to play a British person in a film about Sherlock Holmes made by an asian film company...I mean the actor isn't going to be stuffing garlic in his face and playing the accordion at every free moment.

It's an actor's job to be someone else.