January 25, 2006
NHK TV Interview Special
Hiroyuki Sanada in "The Promise"

(S: Sanada-san, R: Reporter, K: Chen Kaige)

S: Ni-hao ("Hi" in Chinese) Oh, wow! (about the medicine bottle) I was wondering what you have in your hand.
R: So this is used when you lost your voice with your Chinese practice?
S: Or rather say, not to lose my voice, staff always had this ready for me. Oh, I miss it. Thank you for your help (bow to the bottle). I couldn't do it without this.

R: This time, Director Chen Kaige is the one who appointed Sanada-san for the General. He is internationaly acclaimed director who once won Palm D'Or in Cannes Film Festival.

K: I was looking for an actor who can express the complex inner changes for the role of General. I chose Sanada-san, because he is a talented actor and can play any type of roles.

(Film making scenes)

R: Director Kaige required a high acting skill to Sanada-san. But at the beginning, he was planning to have a Chenese voice actor do the voice over after the filming, so his Chinese lines sound natural.

S: I would be upset if the voice is not mine, so I really wanted to do it myself. I took vigorous lessons in Japan, and then at the locaion, I practiced and memorized the script lines. Whenever I have a moment to spare, even when I eat, take a bath, or on transportation in a car, I was always practicing. Then I try the lines that I memorized to the Chinese staff. They understood, or sometimes got surprised. It was a lot of fun, so every day, I tried different lines of the day to different people, such as make-up staff or drivers, to see if they understand me.

(Shows the notebook with lots of writings)

R: This is the script that Sanada-san was carrying around all the time. The lines and the pronunciation code are all written by himself. His sencere attitude moved Director Chen's heart. After the filming, they decided to test Sanada-san's Chinese.

S: They were going to test me for the first day, and a voice-over actor was already there with all the lines memorized, in case they decided that my Chinese is not good enough. On that day, the director said, "OK, maybe we can go with himself." But he told me that he wouldn't let me go until the pronounciation sounds perfectly native, and I said "bring it on!" I continued to work on it, and when I realized, already 3 weeks passed, though the schedule was only 3 days. I was in the studio for 12 hours a day. From the latter half of the second week, my face muscle for Chinese got stronger and I started to pronounce the sound that I could not before. So the last day, it was decided that I would record all the lines from the beginning, because I could do it clearly at that moment. I got OK with just one try. And finally everything was over.

K: I was very moved that Sanada-san took up my challenge. He continues to challenge new things one after another. That is why he is a Samurai.

(Soccer scene)

R: During the filming, Asia Cup Soccer final game between China and Japan was held. Some spectators showed anti-Japan sentiment and it made the tention higher.

S: I was told not to go out from the hotel room on that day because it was too dangerous. I was struck by the reality and was watching the game in the hotel room. There happened to be two TV sets so I was watching the same game both in Japanese and Chinese, and I realized how the comments are so different between the two. That made me aware of the difference, such as the understanding of the history, national sentiment, or education. That reminded me, "I am here to bridge this gap through the movie." Actually, if you insist on your own way or reject other's way of doing things, you cannot even take one cut of the film. But as we keep on discussing, we could find a narrow but sure way that we can all walk together. Then for the first time you can take a good cut, and it goes on for several month, and finally one good movie is made.

R: This time Sanada-san worked together with the top stars representing Asian countries; Jang Dong-kun from Korea and Cecilia Chang from Hong Kong. It was a movie made with cooperation by all-Asian members.

S: I feel that there was a microcosm of what kind of relationships Asia should be forming, how to deal with one another. I was reminded and even felt stronger that I want to keep on doing the things that our generation can do and through movies.

R: His effort was praised in a Chinese magazine article, that says they were totally impressed by the General who spoke the perfect Chinese. As of today, the film is a huge hit with more than 9 million accumulated vieweres.