| 2006 | |
| Dec. 29 | Sunshine Forum is open!! Please go there and discuss about Sanada-san there!! Sunshine Forum |
| Dec. 16 | Long time no see, everyone! I finally have some SANADA sighting info for
you. Sanada-san is in filming "Rush Hour 3" with Jackie Chen
in Southern California, and JC writes about him on his own blog. Jackie Chan Blog Dec. 6 2006 (with a nice villain photo!!) According to his blog, Sanada-san was in Buenos Aires with Anthony Hopkins the week before, and got into a traffic accident and got hurt!! OH NO!!!! Appearantly, he is back in filming "RH3" and must be OK (hew...). Anyway, as some fans suspected, he must be going back and forth between L.A. and Argentina, working on two films in parallel - James Ivory / Anthony Hopkins on one side, Jackie Chan on the other!!! I hope he will not burn himself out. I will be on vacation for the holidays and will not be able to work on the site (unless there is any big emergency), so everyone, please enjoy your holidays!! |
| Nov 11 | "The City of Your Final Destination" production is officially
announced on Nov. 6. There is a small article on Comingsoon.net. Comingsoon.net Nov. 7 (English) The following is reported on Screen AFM daily on Nov. 6. HYDE PARK, MERCHANT IVORY TEAM ON CITY by Mike Goodridge Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment is teaming up with Merchant Ivory Productions (MIP) to co-produce James Ivory's latest film The City Of Your Final Destination, which is set to star Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, Omar Metwally, Hiro Sanada, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Norma Aleandro, Alexandra Maria Lara and Kate Burton. Hyde Park International is handling sales here on the film, which is set to start shooting in the US and Argentina later this month. The City... is based on the novel by Peter Cameron and stars Metwally as an Iranian-born graduate student who travels to Argentina to seek permission from the family of a deceased Latin American author to write his authorised biography. Hpkins plays the author's brother, Linney his widow, Gainsbourg his mistress and Sanada the lover of Hopkins' character. Ivory's logtime screenwriting collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote the screenplay and longtime MIP associates Richard Howley and Paul Bradley are producing, taking over the mantlefrom the late Ismail Merchant, who died last year during post-production on MIP's The White Countess. "Ismail was our mentor and Paul and I were his producing partners for 20 years," said Hawley. "This film is proof that his legacy is still going strong and Merchant Ivory will continue producing movies." LA-based Indian-born Amritraj will act as executive producer on the film, and the irony is not lost on him that an Indian ex-pat is taking over Merchant's mantle. "The Indian connection had something to do with my getting involved." said Amritraj. "I think it's a very tasteful, lovely film. I've watched and enjoyed the films Jim and Ismail have done over the years." Amritraj said the budget was in the high teens. "The White Countess" opened in Japan on Oct. 28 on a limited basis, and the main theater Shibuya Bunkamura Le Cinema was full-house in all the shows, mainly with Sanada-fans, according to this article. Cinema Cafe Oct. 31 (Japanese) Here is the article on a special panel talk by Sanada-fans regarding "The White Countess" on WisePolicy (distributor) Website. They are all our friends, and many of them left greeting messages on Sanada-san's online birthday event. Wise Policy Best Paradise Oct. 25 (Japanese) And some of many Sanada-san interview article right before the opening day. Cinema Today (Japanese) MovieWalker (Japanese) CinemaCafe (Japanese) "The White Countess" Japan Official Website |
| Oct 18 | Someone spotted a group photo that includes Sanada-san at Jackie Chan official
blog on Oct. 6!! He was writing abou a dinner with Don Johnson, and Sanada-sam
seems to have been a part of it. According to the blog, they are already
in filming in Paris, and if Oct. 6 date is right, Sanada-san was there
for the filming of "Rush Hour 3" in Paris around that time. There
is no entry of Oct. 12, so it is not certain if Sanada-san spent his birthday
in Paris or not. Jacke Chan Official Website blog Oct. 5 Jackie Chan Official Website blog Oct. 6 There is also a new interview article on Japanese site regarding "The White Countess". See the nice photos!! Cinema Cafe Oct. 18 (Japanese) |
| Oct 11 | HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SANADA-SAN!! It is already Oct 12 in Asia and people started to stop by at SHIN site for the birthday celebration! Please come and take a look how many people from how many countries are gathering, and leave your own message!! Jamie's SHIN Forum (http://www.jgraphicdesigns.com/WebGallery_Forum/viewtopic.php?t=109) Also here is a small birthday commemoration for Hiro fans. GOO Movie has put up a nice interview article with NICE, NICE, VERY NICE photo of Sanada-san, as a promotion of "The White Countess" in Japan, which will be released on Oct. 28. GOO MOVIE Sanada-san interview (10/12, Japanese) Sorry I don't have time to translate all, but here are some quotes - "Matsuda (Sanada-san's character) was an enemy of China, but for his own purposes, he was concerned about his own country, wanted to contribute to the country, by catching up to the West. He was a man of mission. But to carry out his mission, his own actions had to destry the city, and he was feeling his own burden. Then apart from his mission, a friendship was born with Jackson, and he started to see all the things he tried not to see in himself, at the time he had to destroy this friendship again. He must have had a very complex feeling when he was looking down on the burning city. But he did not become sentimental about it. He wanted to take a risk to save his friend, while he carried out his official mission. It was his braveness, and I liked it as his sense of beauty." "When I visited Shang-hai for the film festival, I was all determined to face any criticism due to such a role, but I was almost surprised at a huge welcome there. The writer Kazuo Ishiguro, as a man with Japanese heritage, assigned many things to this character, and even the Chinese press gave a good reaction to the fact that a Japanese actor play this role and come to Shanghai." "And finally, the film opens in Japan soon, so I want to make it a good show for the sake of Director Ivory and late Ismail Merchant, because I learned so much from this experience. This is my mission as an actor." |
| Oct 10 | ATTENTION!! ALL HIRO FANS AROUND THE WORLD!! COME CELEBRATE HIRO'S BIRTHDAY!! As many of you may know, Oct. 12 is Sanada-san's 46th birthday. This year, we the international Hiro manias are trying to recruit as many people as possible to come to Jamie's "SHIN Forum", and to post birthday wishes to Hiro. To mark this celebration, Jamie is putting up a special video clip of Sanada-san interview for "The Promise", which was actually up a few months ago but was put back down due to the storage capacity limitations. The clip will be on SHIN again for a limited time only starting from mid-day Oct. 11. So everyone, please come to the following address and leave your message - or chat away with fellow fans! And by the way, there is a very SLIM chance that Hiro actually sees it. Jamie's SHIN Forum (http://www.jgraphicdesigns.com/WebGallery_Forum/viewtopic.php?t=109) One more thing. "Sunshine" Website just put up a short video clip showing all the cast members taking flights - of course, including our Sanada-san! Sunshine Videos (10/10/06) |
| Sep 23 | Following up on yesterday's big news, there are some articles on "Rush
Hour", and a paparazzi photo of Paris shooting scene. It says that
none of the stars (Jackie or Chris) was there, but they were shooting the
car chase scene, also with several motorcycles. Comingsoon 8/27 Paris15.fr 8/15 And just a few more coverages of the same news by Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes 9/22/06 Excite UK 9/22/06 |
| Sep 22 | OMG!!! OMG!!! WE CAN SEE HIS SPECTACULAR ACTION AGAIN IN HIS NEW MOVIE!!!!! It is reported that Sanada-san will be in "Rush Hour 3", playing a villain against Jacky Chan and Chris Tucker, as well as Max Von Sydow and Roman Polanski. The film is schedule to released in August 2007. See the following news: ComingSoon USA Today Also, there are some more of his recent photos etc. that I have not reported to you yet. CinemaCafe 9/20/06 (Japanese): Sanada-san was in Japan that day for promotion of "The White Countess", which is scheduled to open on Oct. 28, at Mandarine Hotel Tokyo, which is a sponsor of this movie and is currently serving a special cocktail "The White Countess" at its lounge bar. With musicians (French): Someone's blog... Yahoo! Video : "The Promise" interview video clip, similar to UCLA interview |
| Sep 3 | Long time, everyone. There has been not much to report about Sanada san
lately --- it is not that I floated away!! The only thing that I have missed to report here is a nice interview article on UCLA site about "The Promise". Please see the following page: UCLA International Institute interview Also I just got info about a new "Actors Style" book, featuring Sanada-san on the front page. You can order it from Amazon Japan. (They ship to overseas.) Please click the link below, and if the page appears all in Japanese, find the lines that say "Would you like to see this page in English? Click here" on the right hand side. By clicking the link, you should be able to see the page mostly in English. |
| Jul 30 | WisePolicy blog reports about "TWC" New York press event on Friday.
It said that after the hectic day of picture taking and interview, and
after Ralph Fiennes left to go back to his stage of "Faith Healer"
on Broadway, Sanada-san suggested, "let's party!". Then all the
WisePolicy staff went back to the suite room in the hotel that the interviews
were held, arranged toasted for the success of the event with Sanada-san,
staff and some remaining press people. The author (WisePolicy staff) writes,
"Sanada-san cared about all the staff and press people, and told us
about various interesting stories about the "behind the scene"
episodes and about his new film. He is such a wonderful person." Please
see the following , with a group photo of the "party"! Sanada-san
look cleanly shaved and his hair looks a little longer (even though it
is so small and hard to judge), and I assume he is making a preparation
for his next role, Pete, in "The City of Your Final Destination". WisePolicy blog New York event entry (with a photo) For those who are wondering what is going on at Hiro Talk Forum -- the forum has been hacked, and we are trying very hard to notify the Forum owner Aurora to take action. Please be patient. In the meantime, if you would like to discuss about Hiro, please try SHIN forum or Yahoo Group for Hiro by Lyn. |
| Jul 27 | Acdording tothe below-mentioned Wise Policy blog, Sanada san arrives in NY today for the press event, which is exclusively for Japanese press. If you have an access to Fuji TV News on the Japanese Channel in the U.S., you may want to check it out over the weekend and on Monday morning. The event will take place in one of the hotels in Midtown Manhattan. According to this blog writer, there have been some schedule conflicts with Ralph Fiennes and director James Ivory recently, and he had to break his back to re-arrange the press conference schedule. And he says, "Sanada-san is an ANGEL! There has been no problem whatsoever with him, and he even went extra miles to accommodate those schedule changes." It cracked me up, but it is true - SANADA-SAN IS AN ANGEL!! |
| Jul 26 | "The White Countess" Japanese official site is open!! The White Countess Japanese Site Also according to this Japanese distributor Wise Policy, the New York press event for "TWC" will take place on Friday, July 28, and Sanada-san will attend. Japanese press are invited this time. Also a fan informed me of a nice article about Sanada-san on Kungfu Magazine. Kungfu Magazine article (English) I also have translated the below Spanish article. I could not understand the exact meaning of the last sentence and so my English is confused - if anyone can point out what it means, please let me know!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The new destination of Ivory In September, he will return for filming with Anthony Hopkins and Michelle Williams Jul. 15, 2006 "Yes, it is true. In my last two films, I decided to leave a little from the places that I focused in the past, but the spirit is always the same," says the nice James Ivory, facing the cold winter in Buenos Aires in his second visit to Argentina. This time, like the last time, he has a main purpose; to finish deciding the locations, the staff, and the major characters in his next project, "The City of Your Final Destination", which will be filmed in our country "between coming September and October", according to him. At that time, Ivory will return to Buenos Aires with none other than Anthony Hopkins, who one more time will play (like in "Remains of the Day", "Howard Ends" and "Surviving Picasso") the main role in one of his films. International Cast "Also among the cast - added the director to LA NACION - Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michelle Williams and the Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada. The only thing left to do is to decide who will be one of the major roles and Argentinian actors, and that will take me a few more days." Ivory, producer Richard Hawley and production designer Andrew Sanders will stay during the weekend in Mar del Plata and later will be back to this capital, hoping by this time to decide some of the locations that the new film will be pictured. "We are looking for ranches," confirmed Ivory, who in his first visit went to the Tandil area for this purpose. That time he also visited Colonia, because Cameron's novel is based in Urguay and tells the story of a South American writer who passed away , whose achievements are followed by a young North American student with Iranian origin. But Ivory and his colaborators are leaning towards discarding the Uruguay option and will probably decide at the end to film everythin in our country. "We select Argentina for many reasons. Here I have gathered lots of valuable information. I have familialized myself with many attracive places for filming, although I still have to visit many other places, and above all, I have met in your country many people who are very competent for carring out the work to produce a film of such characteristics," emphasizes the director. He is interested in the period films with carefully distinguished environment, the refinement and the social contrast, which has become the identification stamp of his career, applauded and full of recognition. Immediate release Ivory's visit, while on June 7 he turned 78 years old, also coincided with the days before the local release of his latest film, "The White Countess", whose launch was scheduled on Thursday 27, in fact. It is the story based in the 1930's, in the Chinese city of Shanghai, which depicts the relationship between a Russian countess in exile (Natasha Richardson) and a disillusioned American diplomat (Ralph Fiennes), who lost his vision in an accident. The vast majority of the reference material in relation to the film mention "The White Countess" as the last joint project between Ivory and the producer of Indian origin Ismail Merchant, whose allinace in movie and in life for four decades has no comparison in terms of continuity and the artistic coherence. Merchant passed away on May 25, 2005 in London, during post production of "The White Countess", but also - according to Ivory - it was his (Merchant's?) decision to bring to the film "The City of Your Final Destination" and both have worked during the last few years in the project, to end up with another usual colaborator and history for both during the 40 years; script writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. |
| Jul 21 |
According to Japanese film distribution company's blog, there will be a "The White Countess" press event in New York later this month, with Sanada-san, Ralph Fiennes and James Ivory. The blog says Japanese press will be invited there, so I guess it will be for foreign markets. I still don't know the precise date/schedule of the event. Wise Policy blog (Japanese) |
| Jul 17 |
There was an article on Argentinian newspaper "La Nacion" about "The City of Your Final Destination". I still have not figured out all the details, but it looks like it says that Anthony Hopkins, as well as Charlotte Gainsbourg and Michelle Williams, will be in the movie along with Sanada-san. I don't have my Spanish dictionary handy, so if anyone can translate it into English, please send it over to me!! La Nacion Jul. 16 article (Spanish) |
| Jun 20 | Tom Cruise is now in Tokyo for the promotion of "M:I:3", and reported to have mentioned "I am looking forward to having dinner with Hiro Sanada." Appearently, Sanada-san is back on Tokyo after the event in Shanghai. "Sunshine" Danny Boyle video clip is up on Sunshine site! Short, but cool!! Sunshine video |
| Jun 18 | Some new photos from Shanghai International Film Festival!! Sanada-san
appeared along with Natasha Richardson and her husband Liam Neeson, Madeleine
Daly and others. tencent (Chinese) news365 (Chinese) Sohu.com 1 (Chinese) Sohu.com 2 (Chinese) |
| Jun 16 | Shanghai International Film Festival is scheduled to open tomorrow, and
Sanada-san is scheduled to appear, according to Chinese press. "The
White Countess" is the opening film tomorrow. China Daily (English) Shanghai Daily (English) |
| May 29 | Sanada-san's new Suntory bottled tea CM started to air in Japan. You can
see it on Suntory's Website; Suntory "Seiryu Nanacha" Website Streaming for Narroband for Broadband |
| May 26 | Sanada-san's new TV commercial will be on air on May 30 in Japan. It is
for Suntory's new bottled tea "Seiryu Nanacha". The video clip
is not on Suntory's site yet. Hope it will come up next week. Report on SANSPO (Japanese with a photo) |
| May 23 | There is a video clip of Sanada-san interview at "The Promise"
premiere on Los Angeles Japanese Community TV Website. JATV Site (Click link for May 20 issue. Japanese with English subtitles.) Also, there has been a news piece that "The White Countess" will be screened in Shanghai Film Festival (June 17-25) and the main cast including Sanada-san will appear there (I can't find the specific date.) sina.com article (Chinese) |
| May 16 | Sanada-san's new interview article is up on Hoga Central!! And there, he
says that his new project is definitely "The City of Your Final Destination",
and his role is a gay partner of the dead novelist's brother. He also talks
a lot about "The Promise". Hoga Central Special Interview "The Promise" took in approx. half a million dollar box office gross over the two week period, according to Kaiju Shakedown. Grady Hendrix, after so much trash-talking about "The Promise", finally admitted that it is "not too bad", although not too great (which I agree too), considering the generally tough US environment for foreign movies. After reading Sanada-san's interview above, I truly hope that there are at least SOME people in the US industry who understand the true spirit of this film. Kaiju Shakedown May 15 Also as many of you may already know, "Sunshine" release is pushed to March next year. More wait... but hope that makes the film better!! |
| May 8 | I watched "The Promise" US version last Friday. Compared to the
Chinese version (I have it in DVD), new opening and ending are added, which
I found VERY nice, and some scenes - mostly "funny" scenes -
are cut. As some of the fans reported in other sites, Sanada-san suffered
the most cuts, but in this Japanese article (very similar to the MovieWeb
interview below, but a few more details added), Sanada-san is saying, about
the cuts, "I guess it was necessary to make the story simple. It happens
all the time, so I don't mind. In fact, in some of the parts that were
cut, I was feeling that I over-acted, so it was probably good that it was
taken out." Althoug this is a Japanese article, there are a couple of nice pictures. Here it is... "Tsukurou Eiga" site Sanada-san/Chen Kaige interview Also as was reported on other sites, the box office result of "The Promise" was not particularly good, but hey, this is a subtitled foreign movie - I think they did OK. If any of you in the US and live near the cities that the film is showing, PLEASE go to the theater and cast your money vote!! |
| May 5 | "The Promise" US release today!!! I found a nice English interview article on MovieWeb. I am particularly
interested in what he has to say about the editing done for the US version,
because Sanada-san's part suffered the largest cut. Please find it out
yourself!! MovieWeb Sanada-san Interview (May 3) |
| May 3 | "The Promise" will be released this coming Friday in the U.S.
and Canada by Warner Independent Pictures. If you live in one of the following
cities, PLEEEZE go see the film and support Sanada-san!!! And if you like
it, please go write your reviews at IMDb or any other user review site,
to encourage other movie fans to see it. As you may well know from some
of my articles, this movie means a lot to Sanada-san. He made so much effort to make it
happen, as the bridge among Asian countries. I know that the reputation about this movie is not very good among US
journalists and in English net media. Whether you like it or not is totally
up to you, but please at least give him a chance and watch it with your own eyes in the
theater before you make any judgement. According to the person who is lucky to watch all three versions of "The Promise" (the original Chinese version, the "Weinstein" version, which is approx. 20 minutes shorter than the original and was shown for a week last December, and the latest "Warner" version), the one that will be in the theaters this Friday is much improved from the Weinstein version. They added the new opening and they improved on CGI, and doing so, they infused a new life to the film. According to filmjerk.com, the following is the release schedule. Please refer to movie info site (such as Yahoo Movies) for the showing theaters near you. May 5 - top 20 cities Albany, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleaveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Lexington, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madison, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Monterey, Montreal, Nashville, New Haven, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, Springfield, Saint John, St. Louis, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tampa, Toronto, Tucson, Vancouver, Washington DC., West Palm Beach, Winnepeg May 26 - expanding Abilene, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Boise, Burlington, Ceder Rapids, Champaign, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chico, Colorado Springs, Columbia OH, Columbia SC, Dayton, Des Moines, Fresno, Ft. Meyers, Ft. Smith, Gainesville, Greensborough, Greenville, Harrisburg, Lincoln, Little Rock, Norfolk, Odessa, Orlando, Peoria, Roanoke, Savannah, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Toledo, Tulsa, Wichita I would like to express my deep appreciation to Warner Independent Pictures, for your decision to distribute this movie in the U.S. despite all the previous business trouble, and also for letting us fan sites to utilize the still photos from the movie (as shown on the to page of this site.) |
| Apr. 27 | "The Promise" US premiere was held in Los Angeles last night.
Here are some photos from Getty Images. Sanada-san looks totally relaxed
and -as usual- handsome. US opening is scheduled on May 5. Getty Images |
| Apr. 25 | I got a piece of info that there will be "The Promise" US premiere
will be held in Los Angeles tomorrow (4/26), along with a press conference.
Sanada-san and Chen Kaige will be attending the events. That is all I know
- if anyone know anything more, please let me know. As a separate note, one of the cast of "The City of Your Final Destination" is revealed by a sharp-eyed fan. Omar Metwally, who is a broadway actor and also was in Munich, is likely to be in the film, probably for the role of a young doctoral student. Oh, and here's another piece of info that I have not been able to let you know. Here is the short video clip of "The White Countess" London premiere by Wireimage on YouTube. Sanada-san speaks about in the middle of the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdYa_Q2SUVc |
| Apr. 9 | Hiro's next project is FINALLY REVEALED!!!! In an interview on OutNow.CH, Sanada-san mentions that he will be working with James Ivory again. That means his next movie will most likely will be "The City of Your Final Destination", original novel written by Peter Cameron and screnplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The filming is scheduled to begin at the end of this summer in Argentina. (Any fans from Argentina --- if you hear any local information about this movie, PLEEEEZE let me know!! Write me in Spanish - I will figure it out!!) Original interview about "Promise" on OutNow.CH (Swiss site??) Information about the original novel "The City of Your Final Destination" |
| Mar. 30 | "The Promise" US Website is open. Warner Independent Pictures "The Promise" site Release Date: May 5th, 2006 Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 103 Minutes Official site: www.thepromisemovie.net "The Promise" also is shown in Tribecca Film Festival. Tribecca Website "The Promise" SCREENING SCHEDULE Mon, May 1 / 9:30 pm AMC Loews Lincoln Sq 1 $12 Wed, May 3 / 6:00 pm Regal Cinemas Battery Park 5 $12 "Sunshine" Official Website is open, too!! Sunshie Official Website |
| Mar. 20 | Sanada-san appeared in London Premiere of "The White Countess"
on March 20. Wireimage Getty Images (If you cannot get the result, input "Hiroyuki Sanada" in the search box) |
| Mar. 3 | Japan Academy Award presentation ceremony was held in Tokyo. Sanada-san
was there with the whole group of "AEGIS", which got the nominations
in 12 out of 13 categories, but unfortunately it was an almost clean sweep
of "Always" and Sanada-san did not get the award. See Hoga News Blog for more details. "The Promise" US release info is in! Here are some highlithts from Kaiju Shakedown: US: May 5 Top 20 markets, expands to other markets May 12 and May 26 "Sunshie" international release info US/UK: Oct. 13 (US release is "WIDE", on more than 3000 screens!!) Germany: Nov. 2 Belgium: Nov. 8 As I was being lazy to update the news, there have been many new stuff uploaded on SHIN Gellery, including stunningly sexy pictures of the clothing brand "INTERMEZZO" catalog, and the translation of his interview on Japanese TV program. A nice ew pic also can be seen on "Sunshine" blog. As was already reported, "Sunshine" will be released in the US and UK on the next day of Sanada-san's birthday, Oct. 13 this year. |
| Feb. 15 | Berlin press conference video clip is up on sina.com. Sanada-san answers some questions along with Chen Kaige, Jang Dong-Kun and Etchie Stroh. sina.com 2/13 "The Promise" opened in Japan last weekend, but unfortunately the box office result was so-so. See Hoga Central Blog. |
| Feb. 11 | "The Promise" US distribution rights is picked up by Warner Independent
(WIP). Unfortunately, it is reported on KFC Cinema that it will be the
shortened 102 min. version, but at least they say May release is scheduled.
See Hoga Central Blog. "The Promise" opened in Japan with 273 screens today, and it is reported that it started with good pace. |
| Feb. 10 | "The Promise" is opening in Japan tomorrow (11th). There have
been many coverage about it there, but mostly in magazines and TV's, not
so much online, unfortunately. Visit SHIN gellery for lots of latest Sanada-san's GORGEOUS pictures and video clips. ABerlin Film Festival's "The Promise" screening is also coming up on 12th. According to an insider information, Sanada-san will fly to Italy for "The White Countess" premiere. In two weeks after that, he is scheduled to attend Japan Academy Awards presentation in Tokyo on March 3. |
| Feb. 7 | Blue Ribbon Award presentation was held in Tokyo on 2/7. Sanada-san stated
that he wants to catch up Toshiro Mifune in contents, not only just the
number of Blue Ribbon Awards (3 times for both of them). The award presentation's
MC were Akira Terao (AEGIS) and Rie Miyazawa (The Twilight Samurai), and
many other winners are the past co-stars with Sanada-san. He also was giving
kind hands to elderly Mrs. Kihachi Okamoto, whose late husband was one
of the great directors from Japanese movies' gold era and collaborator
with Sanada-san in "Vengeance for Sale" (Sukedachiya Sukeroku)
and "East Meets West". Source: SANSPO.com (Japanese, with a photo) It is also reported in Korean news that The Promise team, including Sanada-san, Chen Kaige and Jang Dong-kun will be in Berlin for Berlin Film Festival next week, where "The Promise" is invited to be screend as non-competition entry. The screening and a red-carpet event are scheduled on 12th, and the team will be at Berlin on the day before. |
| Feb. 1 | "The Promise - Visual Book" (official photo book for "The
Promise") is out on sale in Japan! You can order it from Amazon Japan.
(see "Shopping" page for help to order from Amazon Japan.) Remember - THIS IS A PHOTO BOOK, NOT A DVD!! "The Promise" Chinese version DVD's are on sale, at various
Asian movie online shops. |
| Jan. 27 | "The Promise" interviews during Japan Premiere can be seen in
video clips are at below link!!! Goo Broadband Navi (Japanese) Yahoo! News (Japanese) Some highlights of exchanges between Sanada-san and Jang Dong-kun: -(About chemistry with Dong-kun) We didn't have to make particular effort to develop chemistry. He is one-round younger year of mouse (in Chinese zodiac, 12 years younger), so maybe we are a good match to begin with. We both had to study Chinese as foreigners. -("What if you both love the same woman as in the movie?") S "If my competitor is Don-chan, then I will surrender immediately." D "I will take it." S "No, let's compete." -("What were you doing during the off-time from the filming?) D "Sanada-san brought baseball gloves, and we played catch. We also played around on the building roof like children. I thought I would be better because I am younger, but Sanada-san is good." S "I played the role of a baseball player once before ("Hero Interview" in 1994), so I practiced then." -("You both promised to do a movie together, but what kind of movie?") S "My role in this movie is a type of 'iro-aku' in Kabuki (good looking but cold villain who does bad things like killing someone), or rather say, sleezy middle-aged 'ero-aku' (erotic villain). With him, I can't be purer than him, so I will concentrate on the villain. He should concentrate the hero role." D "This movie is a period drama, so next time, I want do the modern drama." S "But if you look at us during the off-time, the next project will surely be a comedy." It is not in the video clip, but some highlights of Chen Kaige interview: -"I was interested in what feelings they had in the unknown environment and culture, but they both showed superb and brave acting in such an environment." -"It is 21st century, and the movie has to adjust to the new culture. Some people like my old style, but I have to keep on creating new things. I am not young anymore, but I have a challenge spirit. It is very important to create new image of Asian movies. In this movie, I tried to include lively factors, in addition to fantasy, something more than just an entertainment." In one of the articles, it says that in Japan, they will show the exclusive "Directors Cut - Japan Special Version" where they added a scene at the end to emphasize the theme "starting over again is possible". So there is yet ANOTHER version of "The Promise". I am so confused.... |
| Jan. 25 | "The Promise" Japan Premiere on 24th and press conference on
25th were held in Tokyo. In addition to Sanada-san, Jang Dong-kun, Chen
Hong and Chen Kaige were there. "The Promise" will be shown in
273 screens from Feb. 11 in Japan. A whole bunch of NICE pictures are on
many websites: Wireimage (English, type "Hiroyuki Sanada" in search box) Sanspo.com (Japanese, with a picture) Nikkan Sports (Japanese, with a picture) Daily Sports (Japanese, with a picture) Searchina.com (Japanese, with a picture) Fujisankei (Japanese, with a picture) Sanada-san and Jang Dong-kun showed a tight friendship in both occasions. Sanada-san praises Jang as "Very honest, hard working actor. We just promised to work together again." and Jang says "Sanada-san is like my older brother, and I could make it throught the filming with his help." In the press conference, Sanada-san jokes, when he is asked what his next project is, "Well, how about another sleezy middle-aged 'erotic villain' like this one?" --- hehe, I like it, personally... |
| Jan. 23 | Sanada-san won the Blue Ribbon Award - Best Actor category with his performance
in "AEGIS". This is his third time to receive this award, and
the only actor who had won this award 3 times in his lifetime in the past
is the great Toshiro Mifune. Now he is tied with the great Mifune, he is so happy to state: "Mr. Mifune is so often mentioned even in overseas, so I am so happy to follow him, no question. More than the number of awards, I feel gratful that I have been able to continue acting for more than 10 years since the first time. The higher I try to reach, the more I realize the difficulty of being an actor, and that makes me appreciate more that I am given the opportunity to keep acting." (About his international work): "It is not that I want to be a Hollywood star, but it is just the process of bringing the movies from Japan or from Asia to the Western countries." "My position, I feel, is the harbinger - I bring the things I learn outside to Japan. If I compare it to soccer, I get the ball from the opponent and pass it onto someone else." (About action movies): "Physical abilty is the starting point of acting and is universal. In 'The Promise', I felt that the physical action is a great weapon in Asian movies. I want to continue as long as my body allows." It sounds like he received this interview in Tokyo. The award presentation will be on Feb. 7 in Tokyo, and he probably will be there, as it is around the time for "The Promse" Japan premire. The full list of the winners is on Hoga Central today. Source: SANSPO.com |
| Jan. 22 | "The Promise" US version and original Chinese version comparison
is on the net. Things are not confirmed, but if this isREALLY the case,
we - Sanada-fans - should demand the original be shown elsewhere, too! Hoga Central Blog 1/21 And here are some additional articles from Korea (all in Japanese, but with photos): Chsunilbo 1/20 (Japanese) Innolife 1/22 (Japanese) Innolife 1/19(Japanese) Yahoo! Korea 1/19 (1) (Korean) Yahoo! Korea 1/19 (2) (Korean) Yahoo! Korea 1/19 (3) (Korean) Yahoo! Korea 1/19 (4) (Korean) |
| Jan. 19 | As you all already know, "WuJi - The Promise" did not win the
Golden Globe. By the way, "WuJi" DVD (original Chinese version,
No Region restriction and PAL) is already available on a bunch of Asian
film on-line stores, such as Yesasia. I got one and it played well on my
PC (it does not play on US DVD players due to PAL-NTSC difference). Sanada-san is in Korea for the promotion of "WuJi" from today Korea time. A nice picture is shown in below link (he seems to wear this choker a lot these days..): Chosunilbo 1/19 |
| Jan. 13 | "The White Countess" is opening in wider area in North America
today, in addition to LA, NY and Chicago. Cities include San Francisco/San
Jose area, Seattle, Boston, NY suburbs, St. Louis and Toronto. On Jan.
20, Plano Texas, and 27 Sacrament, and many more to come. There are too
many reviews on the press, so please google "The White Countess"
or go to "Rotten Tomatos" to see some reviews. Sanada-san's schedule: According to various Japanese and Korean press, he will be in Korea for "WuJi" promotion there (opening in late Jan.), and after that, he will be back to Japan for another promotion there (Opening Feb. 11). Before his another grand travel to Asia, remember there is Golden Globe presentation on Jan. 16, for "Master of the Crimson Armor" (aka "WuJi", "The Promise"). Normally for foreign movies, only directors and producers will appear on the show, but just in case, please stay tuned if you have a live broadcast Golden Globe Telecast Monday 16th of January 2006 NBC 8pm EST (in California, delayed telecastis on 8pm) |
| Jan. 8 | To all the fans in U.K. - "The Twilight Samurai" will be broadcasted
on TV on Jan. 9!! Here is the detail (Thanks, issy-chan!!): "Twilight Samurai" broadcast in UK Moday 9th of January 2006 BBC4 10pm |
| Jan. 2 | Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Happy New Year)!! I wish all of you Sanada-fans around the world the
best and the healthiest in this Year of Dog 2006!! (I moved all the previous
news onto "Archive" page. Please click the link to "2005"
news archive above to see the news before Dec.) Our friend REI went to the theater to see "The Promise - Master of the Crimson Armor" (OK, it is the FINAL US title, as of today...) on Dec. 30, the opening day of the limited screening in Los Angeles. She reported that the theater was 2/3 full, which was not bad considering the lack of publicity and the timing. They showed 102 min. version, shorter than the original Chinese version but longer than 97 min. that was originally reported as "Weinstein version". She liked the film, though the film is not totally without flaws. Sanada-san looks and sounds fabulous, as expected. She felt the character is complex, and he did a great job expressiong it. Here's REI's review on SHIN Another friend Nekota from Japan went all the way to Shanghai to watch the film as well, and she also mentioned she liked the film. She mentions that Sanada-san is a "upbeat, frank, simple and macho" character - a bit different impression than the LA friend. Interesting. Here's Nekota's info on SHIN I also mention briefly here that there is a "speculation" - totally based on fans' analysis from public info about the movie, not on any particular information source - about Sanada-san's next movie project on SHIN discussion board. Note again, THIS IS TOTALLY FANS' FANTASY SPECULATION, but I mention it to you as the "First Dream (Hatsu Yume)" on New Year, Japan's tradition to tell this year's fortune by the dream you had on Jan. 2. See SHIN board below. Here's our Hatsu Yume |
