Sarah Michelle Gellar on working in Japan for The Grudge

Non-LIT specific topics about Japan and Asia - culture, customs, food, people, art, film etc.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Suntory
For Relaxing Times Make It Suntory Time!
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2004 1:28 am
Location: Boston

Sarah Michelle Gellar on working in Japan for The Grudge

#1 Post by Suntory » Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:47 pm

There is an interview with her on this in a local Boston publication:

http://www.insiteboston.com/

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Sarah Michelle Gellar Finds Her Way, Thanks to the Giving Spirit of The Grudge

When Buffy The Vampire Slayer appeared on TV, no one had heard of the show's young star. By the time the show ended, Sarah Michelle Gellar had created a huge fan base, not only for her character, but because of the ideas the show represented for many. Everyone wondered what the actress would do post-Buffy; luckily for fans, one of her first major projects is The Grudge. The first Japanese film to be remade with the original director onboard, it's a fantastic take on one of Japan's best horror films. Gellar went to Japan to shoot the project, and, like so many visitors, returned very affected by the experience.

So was this your first time in Japan?
Yes! Oh god, I loved it. I love to travel, but sometimes I get fearful that I've worked up something in my mind, and you worry that somehow it's going to let you down. And in my wildest dreams, I didn't imagine that Japan was going to be as amazing as it was. The people, the culture, the food, the alcohol...I can go on about it for hours.

What struck you most when you first got there?
America doesn't have a whole lot of history; we're fairly new. And to be in a place that does...in America we toss out our elderly; sometimes at 27 I feel over the hill. In Japan, everything is about respecting your elders, and respecting your culture and society and your city. I'm a New Yorker born and raised, and when they told me the Japanese subways don't have graffiti, I was like, yeah right. Oh my god! I begged them not to drive me to work every day. I wanted to take the subway. It was faster, and there's no traffic to deal with. It's an amazing city, with amazing people.

And it's safe.
Yeah! I read every book ever printed about Japan, I think, on my vacation last year and that was the first thing every one said. You can walk the streets at 3 in the morning, and it's fine as a female, and no one locks their doors. Oh, boy they don't!

What's the best thing that happened while you were there?
My favorite story about Japan is this one. I was the first one to get there. And I was proud of myself. I did not have that much luggage. For a girl traveling for three months in the winter, I just didn't have that much. I get there, and the apartment was so small that my luggage wouldn't fit around the corners. And I'm not shy, whatever, I'll unpack in the hallway and bring everything in. And these are private people. There I am, on the floor in the hallway, with my underwear all over the place, and the stares I got from people...by the end, it think it was just actors on my floor because everyone else moved off.

What struck you most about the original film?
I had seen the original the night before I went in to read, and I was fascinated. I think the thing that got me more than anything else was some of the awesome shots. It reminded me of early Brian de Palma, where I just wondered how they did some of it. I kept wondering how [director Takashi] Shimizu did this stuff, but his crew works so hard. They'd set up some huge, complicated thing, and we'd think, yeah right. They did this one, an amazing crane shot that didn't make the film that featured Clea and Katie and William and Grace. It started on the bottom floor of the house, went up to the top floor, and the whole thing. I was supposed to work that night, and we had a betting pool on how many takes and hours it was going to take. I thought I had a great guess at 32 takes and eight hours. I got the phone call asking how quickly I could get in - it was seven takes! Seven! And that's Shimizu.

And that speed is how everything went down?
The very first day is a scene with me and [co-star] Jason [Behr] in the cemetery. It's a lot of dialogue for the first day. Jason and I are preparing, and we do the first take, and Shimizu says "OK, moving on!" And we were freaked out. That was the first take! Shimizu says, "It was good!" Then all the Sony execs run in, "Wait, wait, you have to do it again!" "Why? It was perfect." It was funny, because he used to pride himself on how little film he used, which clearly no one cares about on an American film. So poor Shimizu, we put him through the ringer.

Does that pace affect how you work?
Hell yes! I mean, I'm from television, I'm used to a fast pace, and certainly I'm a fast-paced person. But this was a little new. We'd maybe ask for a second take, and there were times when Jason and I would conspire, he'd ask one time and I'd ask another, and you could see sometimes that Shimizu was disappointed.

And since this is such a close remake, did you find yourself on set, realizing that you were doing the same shot you thought was so cool when you watched the original?
You know, [husband] Freddie [Prinze Jr.] and I watched the first movie, and one of the things I said was that I really hope they do this right. I hope they don't Americanize it. I love the non-linear aspect, I love that it doesn't exactly have a beginning, middle and end. I love that the stories are so interwoven. And there were a couple of scenes where Freddie and I agreed we'd love to see Shimizu re-do them shot for shot. Particularly the shower scene, which really stuck with me. My other favorite was the shot in the elevator, where she's going up, and sees [the boy] Toshio on each floor.

So you got to see those in action. Anything surprising there?
Literally that he does everything for real. This is going to make me sound so dumb, but I have to tell you. You'd imagine that the shot in the shower was a CGI hand. But no, that's a hand with makeup on it, in my hair. So, I went to the set the day they did the elevator, and I slightly envisioned her in the elevator, and the little kid running up the stairs to get there in time for the camera passing each time.

Whose hand was in the shower?
It really was Kayako (Takako Fuji). And that was a seven-hour scene with me in cold water. What they'd do is, they'd roll, she'd put her hand up under my hair, they'd cover it, and we'd do the scene. And the first time, I didn't show her hand clearly enough. The second her hand was showing from the beginning. After every two takes, the makeup was gone, and she had to have it re-done.

You know the first take was perfect, right? They were just milking that shower scene to be with you.
Me and seventeen Japanese men, in the shower! Right. Japanese guys are kind of bashful, and clearly I'm not, but these poor guys could not want the scene to end faster. And that was some ice-cold water. It was cold in Japan! And I was having this weird reaction to the water - it's apparently a lot more metallic than ours - and I was getting this rash on my legs. Here's a visual for you. They brought out garbage bags, and made pants for me. So here I am in the showerŠwith Hefty pants! It was attractive. I would have wanted to stay in there with me.

Lots of new horror, Japanese stuff.
Oh, sure. I'd seen Ringu before the remake arrived, and Dark Water, too. I saw Hero an age ago, which obviously isn't a horror film, and thought, why is this movie not the hugest hit in America? It was nominated for an Oscar, where is this film? Asian cinema is so daring and different. They don't conform, and there's not 400 test audiences that control it. It's an artist's vision, and it's such an honor to be a part of the first American film remade with the original Japanese director. While we were out there we heard that they were going to bring Hideo [Nakata, director of Ringu] in to do Ring 2, and it was like, we won. It felt like we opened things up. And with Hero surprising people - that sat on the shelf for so long, so hopefully we'll see an influx.

Talk about the kid (Yuya Ozeki, who plays Toshio).
No, that's a scary kid. He's been doing it for like seven years. But he doesn't seem to age.

Is he the Gary Coleman of horror?
Ha! Maybe Emmanuel Lewis. No, I'm not going to lie, normally it's a set, you don't think much of it. But that's a scary kid. When he walked around in that little diaper thing, I would say to Jason all the timeŠhe's creeping me out. He's like a 40-year-old in a 7-year-old's body. And the worst part is, the kid hates cats. So you can imagine how much fun my first day with him was, which was the first scene with the cat. They would get him all ready, and his favorite person on set would give him the cat and he'd make this faceŠso mad. But this is the fifth Ju-on movie, and he's been in all of them. He and Kayako were in all of them.

What are some of the differences about working in Japan?
They were making a big fuss about making sure everyone was ready on time, and I just thought, eh, big deal. Must be because they've got all these extras. I go out there, do the first take, little blonde girl walking through all the Japanese people. They cut, I walk back, and nobody walks back. I think, these extras certainly aren't listening. And it was only then that I went, oh my god, they're not extras. Clearly I was in my own world that morning.

So you just shot without shutting things down?
Well, with our immense budget, I'm surprised we didn't shut down half of Tokyo! Um, no. I don't even know if you can, not that we could have afforded it. We did these train sequences, and there was all this planning going into it. I could only pick up so many words because of the language barrier. And to do the scene, I'd get on a car alone, get off at the next stop, and then come back. They'd just shoot me getting off. It's amazing. You only have an hour to do it, and then they kick you out.

So when you do your next American film, is the pace going to feel incredibly sluggish?
You mean like me on Scooby Doo 2? Me going, "What is taking so long? On Buffy we had this green screen up seven hours ago!" Um, yes.

How do you feel now that Buffy is over?
It's relaxing. It's a whole new experience, because I've come from always doing 400 things, whether I was going to school and doing theatre, or school and All My Children, or doing Buffy and making movies on my days off. And it's the first time where I have time. A friend will call and say, "It's my birthday next week, can you come to New York?" And I can! It's been amazing to be able to have plans and friends, and spend time with my friends' children and not be shocked about how much they've grown since I saw them last. It's a gift. One thing I will say is that it makes me appreciate it, and understand how nice it is to have time.

It sounds like you took a lot out of the experience in Japan. What stands out?
What I learned is how to be choosy about picking projects, because now everything has to live up to that project, both personally and professionally. I know that I need to wait for that, because anything else would be a disappointment. And I fought for this role; it was not handed to me. I auditioned, and I stalked [producer] Sam Raimi. I like fighting, and being able to fight for something I want.

But you do have more choice now, without Buffy.
I didn't realize it, but the first thing that went into picking a project was scheduling. There were no indie films I could do, because god forbid the financing didn't come in and it got pushed a week, that would be it for me. It was studio films only, projects that could afford to work around my Buffy schedule and work weekends. Now I look first at the actual project, shocking as it sounds. That's new for me. It's a luxury.

And what do you look for?
It's character. I can't be the wife, or the girlfriend. I wouldn't have anything to add to that. I'd be bored out of my mind; I'd be restless. I like things that are different. Buffy spoiled me; I was part of something groundbreaking. And to be part of this, which to me is also groundbreaking, I'm a little spoiled. And that comes into play when I look at stuff. Like, romantic comedies just aren't for me. They're not the kind of movie I want to see on a Friday night, and I don't think I would bring that much to the table. I'm not saying that one day I wouldn't find one that really appealed to me, but right now it's just things that spark for me.

Post Reply