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Watanabe: 'Iwo' role took much research
2006-11-12
Having starred in several TV series and films about samurai, Ken Watanabe understands sacrifice, honor and fierce battles to the death. So playing a Japanese general in a film about the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima would appear to be a seamless transition. Not so, Watanabe says. His role in Clint Eastwood's World War II epic "Letters From Iwo Jima," took lots of preparation and research. The film, scheduled for release Dec. 9 in Japan and early next year in the United States, is a companion to Eastwood's current Iwo Jima film, "Flags of Our Father." "Letters," though, is told from the perspective of Japanese soldiers defending the island. Watanabe, 47, said many Japanese, including the young actors in the film, weren't aware of the sentiment of the soldiers decades ago. He read books to study the battle, as well as the culture, attitudes and traditional language of that generation. While Watanabe was well aware of Eastwood's abilities, he had concerns about an American directing a film from the Japanese vantage point. "I was worried before shooting," Watanabe said in an interview with The Associated Press on Waikiki Beach. "We wanted to explain and express the Japanese feeling 60 years ago. He totally understood. We completely had good chemistry." Watanabe plays Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who loses the battle for control of Iwo Jima. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is Watanabe's fourth Hollywood film in the past few years. Watanabe also starred in "Last Samurai," "Batman Begins" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." In 2004, he was featured as one of People Magazine's 50 most beautiful people.
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