News News Index 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

The Sarah Michelle Gellar IFILM Grudge Interview also known as mistymidnight's Labor of Love This is the transcript of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Interview with IFILM. It's more or less completely word-for-word. I transcripted it all on my lonesome. So, numero uno, don't put it on your site without permission from me. And give me some credit. Heck, give me lots of credit. This took me awhile. It was a twelve minute, twenty second interview. Numero however-you-say-'two'-in-Spanish (a mandatory half-year Spanish course never did me much good...) : If you are associated with the film or IFILM, please don't sue me. I'm not making any money off this. In fact, I'm probably losing money over this, 'cause time is money and this is taking lots of time. =) Roger Jackson: This is IFILM. I'm Roger Jackson. We're in Tokyo talking to Sarah Michelle Gellar. Sarah, what are you doing in Tokyo? Sarah Michelle Gellar: Partying! RJ: Okay. SMG: (chuckles) No...! We are filming a movie. Tell me--about the movie. Goodness, just put the pressure on! We are filming an American remake of a Japanese film called Ju-On... A cult Japanese film, would you say. A cult Japanese film. A very BIG cult Japanese film, Ju-On, and it is, uh, Ju-On is...the literal translation is 'The Grudge'. So. Okay. A huge hit here. In fact, more than one Ju-On movie, um-- This is the director's fifth time making the film. Right. So, Japanese director, and American and Japanese cast. Interesting process, I imagine. What's been different? I think for me the thing that's been most different is, having been doing this for twenty-two years, is there's certain patterns that you know, there's certain ways a film set works, and they're second nature because it's all you know. And it's sort of like coming and doing the same job with completely different roles. And it's not even just the terminology, but it's just, you know, things are done differently, from having to take your shoes off before you walk onto a set...from things like American actors--probably a very lazy American habit--that people will drink water while they're rolling and you're eating a banana and you kinda, you know, hide it on the set and they say "Cut!" and you take it back--and that's incredilbly rude here...and you very slowly start to learn the customs and it's been definitely a really interesting mix of American filmmaking and Japanese filmmaking, maybe somewhere in the middle. All right. So the story of th--of 'The Grudge', Sarah...um, your character, Karen...she's in Tokyo--for what? What's she doing? W-why is she in Japan? Well, uh, Shimizu-San [the movie's director is Takashi Shimizu], I asked him one day, uh, sort of, what made him make this film, where did it come from since he wrote and came up with the original concept. And he said to me it's about the opression of women. And it has to do with what happens of over years and years and years women are constantly held back and the--the rage that builds up inside of you and comes out when you finally get the chance, you're finally capable of that, so it's a really interesting study on all of these different female characters and what happens when they're sort of...empowered. And my character is in Tokyo studying medicine, she wants to be sort of a health-care worker for the elderly, but at the same time is ve--incredibly overwhelmed by it, by the idea of the job and being in Tokyo but wants to have that chance to prove herself, and has the unfortunate task of having to go to (air quotes from SMG) "the House", and that very unfortunate day. Right, the house being really one of the key characters in 'The Grudge'. I would say the house probably is the main character--the house and the Grudge are probably the two main characters, and my character is sort of the set up for the storytelling of the other stories and I come and and wrap it up, so to speak. Right. So much of your career has been spent in American foreign movies and television. But Japanese horror is almost a completely different genre. Uh, more...more touching people's primal fears. (SMG nods.) More thriller, definately. I think horror, unfortunately, especially in the [United] States, has a really bad connotation. Because I would certainly never compare Buffy to I Know You Did [Last Summer] to Scream...just really different, innately, films, but I think that when you say American horror you sort of have this vision of sort of very graphic, very over-indulgent, the young-female-in-the-woods and you're always telling at the television, you know, "Why did you do that? Just go the other way!" It's sort of gory... Texas Chainsaw... Grotesque...exactly. Gratuitous I think is the main word. But the Japanese definitely go much more towards the world of thriller which is about leaving much more to the imagination and it doesn't make sense in the time frame and it sort of has a much more nonsensical theme running through it. And it definitely does scare you on a much different level. Right. Creepy, um, primal, uh, fears, uh, evoked by this movie, I think. Um, most of it left in the imagination. Um, but you'd agree that this will be at least as scary for American movies as The Ring. I'd imagine it's probably a little bit scarier. And again I think The Ring was the first time where...it was ambiguous. It was the first time you really sore...(rolls eyes at herself) Sore. It was the first time you really saw that Japanese idea running through, streamlined through. But the only difference was The Ring, which was obviously based on Ringu, which was a Japanese film...when it was brought to America, it was obviously directed by an American director and I think the difference that you'll see with this film is that it is still the Japanese director, there's more of--of his feel throughout. Right. And talking of the Japanese director, uh, he doesn't really speak English, Sarah. What were the big challenges for you, being directed by Shimizu-San? I think I was really really frightened by it and I think at this point I realize that even though we speak two totally different languages, he understands me better than a lot of directors that I've worked with that speak my language. It's kind of amazing and oddly frightening at the same time, but you have--as an actor, your job is to put your absolute trust into your director, and when you don't speak a language you really have to go with that trust. You don't second-guess 'cause you can't. That's not available to you. And...you know, sometimes the literal translation gets lost and the joke of lost in translation is very serious to us because there are a lot of things. Japanese is a very literal language and American--I mean (rolls eyes at herself again) American. English is not a literal language by any stretch of the imagination so sometimes jokes don't translate too well and every once in awhile you'll touch on their superstition or they'll touch on yours and you don't know, but you find a way to sort of get past that. Right. And American actors like you are at least somewhat used to being able to give feedback on your character and say 'I think it should develop in this way...', maybe even script feedback. Is that the norm here? Apparently, as I found out, it is not the norm. And I didn't know that right away, so Takashi Shimizu and I'd go, 'Oh, that's a good idea! How about this?' not knowing that it was incredibly inappropriate and what I think Shimizu-San realized is that actors do have a lot to contribute. It's very interesting now when you bring the Japanese actors on set because he is always waiting for their ideas and they don't have them--I mean in Japan you go with just what the directors says. So I think we've all learned a lot. I think I certainly have learned to trust in a way that I didn't before. That he's learned, you know, to sort of give way a little bit. Right. And tell me about the...some of the other characters in the movie. Uh, there's Karen, there's Bill Pullman's character... It's so interesting you ask about characters because we've all gotten incredibly close here as friends--as people--but we barely work with anyone. I mean, I probably have the luxury of working with most of the actors, but it's s--I mean, I had no scenes with Clea [DuVall] or Kadee [Strickland] or William [Mapother]...it's kind of odd... Right. To sort of be out here an-and you--I actually, to be honest I--I had my ideas of what some of their characters are but I don't really know. I just started working with Bill Pullman and it's--it's such a dream come true. It's--Bill Pullman and to meet a person you've been a fan of for many years and have him be the absolute nicest person you've ever met on the planet is incredible and I think one of the most amazing experiences about being out here is a lot of time you make friends on the location and maybe you go out a couple times when you're out here but this group, maybe because we are in a country where they don't speak our language and because there's American actors and there's American crew and a little bit of New Zealand crew so we all wound up becoming very close and we go out to dinner every night and go for drinks or--or we go sightseeing together and that's a really rare experience. Right. And just recapping on Bill, with-without moving away, the opening of the film but it is the most stunning opening to a movie, um-- Goodness. I agree, but it's nice to hear somebody else say it! Right. When you first read the script, Sarah, uh, you get a lot of scripts. What attracted you to 'The Grudge'? Uh, it was so weird. I got it very late...I must have been out of town, or--or something. Someone said to me, 'There's a script. If you wanna meet, you gotta meet,' like tomorrow on it and I stayed up all night. I had no idea what it was. So first mistake, right there. Don't read 'The Grudge' at eleven o' clock at night right before you go to sleep. Mistake number one. And mistake number two? Don't watch the original movie after you read the script at now, one in the morning. And it was just...there was something abvout it that said to me not only will it be a really really interesting, really innovative peice of filmmaking, but it'll be a really amazing experience, and, for me, for eight years I worked on an amazing show. I had an amazing character. I had all those oppurtunities and now it's about, for me, doing something that personally says something to me, not just will be a great film--different--but will be an amazing growing experience, a personal experience. And to be living in Japan for three months, really just in the heart of it is...I mean, it could never be replaced. Right. Yes, it's unprecedented, I think, for a Japanese director to be remaking for American studios. It's never happened before, it is also the most expensive film ever based in Tokyo at Toho* Studios, so there are so many things that really feel, like, fresh. They made Godzilla. They made Godzilla! Did you actually get to see Godzilla yesterday? We've all spent some time with Godzilla. Godzilla and I have become pretty close over the last couple months. Right. Tell me about your experiences, Sarah, in the few hours that you're awake that you're not working. That's--! Your experiences in Tokyo. That's the funny thing, that's the other amazing thing about this film. When you're working you're lucky if you see five minutes of the city that you're in. But this movie has afforded me the luxury of a lot of time off and to really explore and to really feel like part of the culture. I-I've done everything and you know, from the most mundane difficult tasks of going to a resaturant and trying to order when you don't speak the language and you're trying very hard with your limited knowledge of the language and I have...I mean I have a decent grasp of the language, though, I'm not completely lost, but from seeing all the art museums and the Tokyo Tower and Mount Fuji...and it's just...I only wish I had more time. Right. But I'll be back. (smiles and rolls her eyes.) And kind of serendipitous, I think, that Lost in Translation has been such a huge hit in the States--and a completely different genre. But I think it's really sparked people's interest in Japan. I'll tell ya something, I saw the movie when it came out in the States, and then a couple weeks ago we watched it here. A bootlegged copy of it, I can tell you, 'cause it's not out in Tokyo yet, and...Sophia Coppola is a genius. I've always thought she was talented, but to have lived the experience that she puts forth in that film...you have no idea. Just from the opening scene where Bill Murray's listening to the director and he speaks for sooo long and the translator says, you know, "More intense!" You'd think he'd said more than that. But he didn't, because, again, Japanese is a much longer language than English, to just the feeling of it's a big city and sometimes you can feel really isolated, at times you feel really welcomed...I d'know, I think it was the second week here--all the actors, we decided to act out Lost in Translation and we went to the bar and we went to the karaoke...we definately did the American Lost in Translation tour, but it strikes a chord once you've been here that it doesn't--that you can't possibly understand, being here. Right. The most unique country in the world. It's a big culture shock, I think, f-for Westerners. I would imagine this a-and India, I-I can't imagine anything else being as huge a shock it's in some ways so technologically advanced, and in other ways it seems oddly behind...You look around and it feels like you're in New York and then you see all these billboard and they're in a different language...y'know, they're in Japanese and you're not quite sure what they say, and it's--it's really--it's overwhelming. Great. And 'The Grudge', I think, is scheduled to open in October, somwhere around there? Halloween. Thank you. Thank you! That took me over two hours to type. You'd all better appreciate this. And what better way to show appreciation than to contribute some fanfic, an article, or help with an episode guide, etc., or helping in another way? AND DON'T FORGET TO SHOW APPRECIATION WITH GUESTBOOK-SIGNAGE! =)

Site Home Show Writings Interact Fun Stuff Stuff For You Site Stuff