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.
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.
N.K. International 