Memoirs of Geisha Trailer
 

Oh, man, I am so stoked. Go here for the trailer of Memoirs of Geisha trailer. I absolutely adored the book so I would have anticipated the movie anyway but the main character is played by none other than lovely Zhang Ziyi!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/memoirsofageisha.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...sha_teaser.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3..._watanabe1.jpg

The only bad thing is that I have to wait till December! The man in the second pic is Ken Watanabe, who was nominated for Oscar for his role in Last Samurai.

I'm about to watch the trailer now. However, I'm upset that Ziyi is playing the role. She's not Japanese damn it.

I saw the author, Arthur Golden, speak at a book fair promoting this book and rushed to buy it since he was so witty and articulate. While it was a good, fun read, I was somewhat disappointed in it. It was too long ago, so I don't remember it that well, but I remember the buzz about him being from a different culture (and a different gender!) and being able to capture the story so authentically. But there were moments that rang false to me (as a woman -- not a geisha :D ). I'll have to reread it for when the movie comes out though.

The movie actually stars other non-Japanese actresses, Gong Li (Chinese) and Michelle Yeoh (Malaysian). Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of Japanese actresses that can generate the interest over here that those three actresses can.

Ugh, Michelle Yeoh too?! Could they not find any suitable Japanese women? This isn't a story about China. Ken Watanabe, now there's an awesome casting choice. I can't get used to all these Chinese people playing Japanese people and speaking in English the whole time. Maybe I'll change my mind when I see it.

The movie does look really nice, except I think this movie would work better if the spoken language was japanese. I certainly have a problem with these kind of movies being spoken in english.

Also why do I get the feeling that every major movie about the Asian culture (that gets a big response in US) etc. has Zhang Ziyi casted in them. :)
(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Memoirs of a Geisha...)

Well, that's Hollywood for ya. Subtitled movies just do not do very well among American mainstream movie audiences.

Cross casting of movie stars in the Asian movie industry is not very uncommon though. For example, Jin, one of the main characters from House of Flying Daggers is played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, a big star in Japan. I see Korean actors and actresses getting casted in variouls roles in Chinese and Japanese movies all the time too. Stephen Chow who made Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle for example has approached Na-Ra Jang, a big time movie star in Korea, for a role in his next movie.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...50327_02_l.jpg

Yeah, I guess it's that way in every country.

In Finland, movies are a rather small business, and the same actors tend to be in "almost every movie". At least I often feel it's that way. :crazy:

Wasn't this movie supposed to be directed by Steven Spielberg? :crazy:

Yup. Way back when... But then he didn't do it. I don't recall why.

I think he considered it but never attached himself to the project. Rob Marshal's not a bad choice.

Yunjin Kim, Sun from Lost, was offered a leading role but she turned it down. If she had accepted the role all of the main female roles would have been played by non-Japanese.

I agree it would be a better movie spoken in Japanese and with Japanese stars. I have the audio book, from Audible.com, and have listened to it twice. My late wife, of 35 years, was Japanese and I speak good Japanese.

The Chinese actresses in the movie are obviously not Japanese and will distract from the movie. So much so I will wait for the DVD to rent and not pay to see it in the theater.

Oldspook

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/...ageisha250.jpg

:z Beautiful.

Dammit, now I'll have to read the novel. It's been on my to-do list for the longest time til now.

And I don't see what the big stink over this whole ethnic nitpicking is about. I don't care as long as the actor does an excellent job of conveying the character. Meryl Streep has played English and Danish characters, and many other actors have done the same and I have no problems with that.

I myself am filipino, and if I saw a movie set in Manila with some characters played by, say, Malaysian actors, I wouldn't care as long as those actors are very good. I would leave my awareness of the ethnic differences at the theatre door.

I have no problems with chinese acting as japanese, I just have a problem with the english language in this film. :)

That's my biggest problem too, though I realize it didn't sound that way. One way to remedy this is to at least imply that the language being spoken is Japanese and that we simply hear English. Films have done this in the past. They begin in the correct language with subtitles, then upon zooming into a character's mouth as he/she speaks, he/she begins talking in English. From then on, the film is in English.