Nana Komatsu and director Bernard Rose attended the US Premiere of Samurai Marathon at the New York Asian Film Festival on Friday, June 28. It was a memorable evening for the young actress as she received a Rising Asia Star Award. Rockin on has published a short but interesting report with highlights from the Q&A session as well as interviews. Original Post (Japanese) – Pics by Brent N.Clarke.
Selection of translated excerpts
“New York is such an amazing city with power and liveliness (…) here I felt like when I started acting, my heart was beating fast ” (Nana Komatsu, speech)
“What was your favorite scene in Samurai Marathon?” ‘A scene I liked was when my father burned a picture at the beginning of the movie. Originally it was a scene with speech, but I thought of expressing emotion without words, I tried to suggest this to the director’ (Nana Komatsu, Q&A)
“What’s the best thing to do so that Japanese actors appear in more American films?” ‘American films should right way appoint Nana a lot more. Then they should take Godzilla’. (Bernard Rose, Q&A)
“Princess Yuki Hime is sort of confined (…) but she is interested in the West and has a broad view of the world. She is a strong woman who wants to experience things without being bound by stereotypes (…) I thought it would be fine if I could impersonate such a woman so that everyone in the world could see and then have some cool after thought about her”. About the modernistic element in the movie and the empathy from the audience (Nana Komatsu, interview)
“Are there any overlaps with yourself?” ‘Yuki Hime and I are similar as far as curiosity is concerned, I’m very curious and want to try anything (…) it’s all about challenge, dressing as a man, getting into a group of men, I think that makes her a rather active woman for that era…’ (Nana Komatsu, interview)
“It’s a trite question but what about Scorsese and this time’s experience” ‘The way of shooting is completely different (…) Mr Scorsese isn’t the type of director who comes to the shooting scene, he comes when he needs it and will say ‘right, it’s good now, let’s have one more take’ and then you can have up to 30 takes and you don’t know which one will be used (…) Bernard Rose tends to favour live play (…) situations that seem chaotic serve as a strategy to give the cast a sense of unity’. (Nana Komatsu, interview)
“There is a need for diversity in the United States in particular, and I think that there are opportunities for Japanese actors to play an active part, but do you want to be in more overseas films?” ‘I think I would definitely like that if there is a chance. I think I miss opportunities because I can not study languages, I have to study English. That would be nice to be able to have a lot of experiences like those (ndt- with Scorsese, Rose) at a young age (…) to get caught in a variety of environments and situations without getting caught in a frame. I have to work hard on Japanese works too. It would be nice if I could feel different ways like that’. (Nana Komatsu, interview)
“What works do you want to appear in?” ‘I like French films and I really enjoy the realistic feeling of everyday life. I don’t like big things happening, but I like works with real emotions, so I think I would like to appear in such works’ (Nana Komatsu, interview)
“She has a sense of presence and strength that flows from the inside (…) Even if she doesn’t say a word, doesn’t do anything or doesn’t move at all, you know something is happening from within and she makes you want to know what it is. For me, that’s the mark of a great actress. It’s better than people who express things with showy movements”. (Bernard Rose on Nana, interview)
N.K. International 