On June 28, Nana Komatsu was in New York to attend the US Premiere of Samurai Marathon and receive a Rising Asia Star Award. During that special night at the 18th New York Asian Film Festival she was interviewed by several English speaking magazines.

One of the interviewers was the webmaster of The Diva Review. Nana Komatsu, whom she describes as “a delightful person”, kindly answers a set of pretty interesting questions. Below is a collection of selected excerpts, you will find the whole interview on their site: Nana Komatsu Exclusive Interview.

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Q1-What attracted you to the role of Yukihime, the princess of the film?

When I first read the script, in that kind of period, it was a society where women would do the housework, and men were the strong ones, and women had to cater to men; but in that environment, Yukihime, she does what she likes. She pursues her interest in western things, and she sticks to that. She pursues her interest in the world with great curiosity, which was something that I really related to. So through this role, I hoped that I could portray a strong woman to women worldwide.

Q3-You have a lot of action in this film, including so much running, as one would expect from the title. You also get to have some fight scenes. Tell us about the physical challenges of the role?

It was actually my first time doing fight choreography, as well as horseback riding, but I really loved it (…) when I was playing Yukihime in her kimono, I wanted to be elegant, almost dancelike with the fighting, but when it was her in disguise as Kumanosuke, I wanted to be powerful and strong (…) I really enjoyed it, and would love to do more.

Q4-Are you drawn to unorthodox characters? Do you ever hesitate about playing someone too crazy or dark because of the effect it might have on your fans, or your other work as a model?

With my first role in THE WORLD OF KANAKO, actually, the image of being kind of darker and cool kind of stuck with me, initially, after doing that role, I thought. But afterwards, I got to do more kind of pure, maybe expressionless, but with lots of feeling, sometimes awkward, cute, varied kinds of roles. So, I’ve been lucky to do all these kinds of roles, and I haven’t been bored …

Q7-Has this experience working with Director Rose, and your previous collaboration with Martin Scorsese made you want to try working with filmmakers in the west?

I would love to, if there were any opportunities while I’m young, but also, even if I’m not young, to kind of break out. Japanese films made in Japan have their own beauty; they are wonderful, but working with these different directors, I find really inspiring. There are new kinds of discoveries, and also, being in an environment where everything is in English, of course, doesn’t happen on Japanese sets. It wasn’t that I understood everything, but it felt really fun for me …