[Zhang Ziyi(new role)Memoirs of a Geisha]

[Anyuni_Nakashima]

If you haven't heard already Zhang Ziyi its starring in "Memoirs of a Geisha". I don't know how many of you have read the book, but it has been highly praised. To summarize quickly it's about the true purpose and meaning of a geisha. For those of you who know about the book.

Do you feel Zhang Ziyi will be good for this part?

Or do you feel a Japanese Actress should've been chosen?

[Note:] remember this is going to be a Hollywood made movie...

:winklove:

[NQT]

Personally, I think a japanese actress should have been selected.

[Flashjeff]

Originally Posted by NQT

Personally, I think a japanese actress should have been selected.

I would agree, but since this movie is gonna be made in Tinseltown, going with Zhang Ziyi is the right choice since moviegoers here are already familiar with her. Opting for an unknown would be a risky proposition, and movie studios abhor risks, especially when it comes to the millions of dollars spent to make motion pictures these days.

[Genius]

Originally Posted by NQT

Personally, I think a japanese actress should have been selected.

i dont mind one bit. Zhang Ziyi has a real cute face that I could stare at for hours.

[Uncle Frank]

the woman who played the love interest of Tom Cruise in "Last Samari"?? She was pretty classy & I think Japanese.

Frank

[Flashjeff]

Originally Posted by Genius

i dont mind one bit. Zhang Ziyi has a real cute face that I could stare at for hours.

That makes two of us! I saw Zhang in "Hero" and she IS quite stunning!

[antantrevolution]

Originally Posted by Frank D. White

the woman who played the love interest of Tom Cruise in "Last Samari"?? She was pretty classy & I think Japanese.

Frank

Damn, Frank, I was gonna say the same damned thing.

Scary how great minds think the same, eh?

Ant

[pdx]

Thats Koyuki, and yeah she would be a good geisha... only problem is... does she speak English? But then again does Zhang speak it well? The last thing that I'd want is someone pretending to be Japanese speaking English with a Chinese accent.

Check this out:

http://www.bymyeyes.com/index.php?p=95

[Anyuni_Nakashima]

Originally Posted by pdx

The last thing that I'd want is someone pretending to be Japanese speaking English with a Chinese accent.
Check this out:
http://www.bymyeyes.com/index.php?p=95

I just thought that was funny...

Ken Watanabe, from the Last Samurai; plays the chairman in the movie.

Micheller Yeoh, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Daragon; is also in the movie.

Looks like they picked people that Westerner's have seen before, like FlashJeff said...

Originally Posted by FlashJeff

I would agree, but since this movie is gonna be made in Tinseltown, going with Zhang Ziyi is the right choice since moviegoers here are already familiar with her. Opting for an unknown would be a risky proposition, and movie studios abhor risks, especially when it comes to the millions of dollars spent to make motion pictures these days.

[Tateishi]

But how authentic is this movie meant to be anyways with Japanese people speaking english in that period of time. Probably as authentic as the last samurai, but at least it'll be good entertainment (hopefully) and the book was a good read as well. As for casting Zhang Ziyi, heck I'll go to watch the movie just to stare at her for 2 hrs.

[michi]

Originally Posted by Anyuni_Nakashima

Micheller Yeoh

she's just too cool. Supercop anyone?

I do not think Zhang Zhi Yi was a good choice for the movie. Even if she is "cute" and did "great" in other movies, she's not even Japanese...that just ruins it for me. Hollywood Schmollywood.

[Tateishi]

I don't think it really matters if Zhang Zhi Yi is Japanese or not (unless you have to speak Japanese in the movie), as long as she can convinve people that she is Japanese in the movie. After all that is what acting is all about, playing a part that's not you. Her not being Japanese wouldn't be an issue at all if the role does not require Japanese language ability.

[pdx]

But what about listening to someone pretending to be Japanese but sluring along in a Chinese accent??? That'll kill it...

[Maciamo]

Let me remind you that the book is available in the JREF Shop : http://www.jref.com/shop/showproduct...&cat=12&page=1

Those having read it are welcome to review it there.

[jeisan]

well if they wanted someone the "westerners are familiar with" then i think they could have used the girl that played gogo in kill bill volume one, no i cant remember her name right now. ziyi has only been in two american mainstream movies unitl two days ago anyway, hero being her third. id prefer a japanese actress even a japanese american actress...

[King of Tokyo]

Bad choice plain and simple. I really had trouble watching a very Chinese-American Lucy Liu speaking Japanese in Kill Bill.. I dealt with it ofcourse.. But I really wish Hollywood would stop throwing asians together like they all are the same. I would rather see a famous Japanese actress that is not known in North America then someone I clearly know is Chinese and can't speak Japanese or English. I wonder how exactly they plan to make this film in English anyway.. But like I said before, No. Why do these big name film companies feel the need to cast people we are "familiar" with? If we went by this rule we would have 80 year old actors playing children for fear of "the audience not knowing the new actor". It is completely annoying. Watanabe Ken was an virtual unknown to America, he plays Katsumoto Moritsu in The Last Samurai and BAM he is widely loved, has a huge fan base in North America and is starring in two new Hollywodd movies (Batman and Memoirs of a Geisha). It is not far stretched to think that you can use a Japanese actress that we are not familiar with, because we can become familiar with her after watching the movie.. Bah.
Bottom Line: Bad Choice/Annoying Choice/Hollywood Choice

[playaa]

I agree, why not use the girl from The Last Samurai? I do believe she is a much better pick than Zhang.

[pdx]

Choosing her comes down to if she can speak English or not...

[Tateishi]

Don't think Zhang can speak much english either. Or can she? Still should be an interesting film though, probably won't be as good as the book.

[gedatsu]

Originally Posted by King of Tokyo

I really had trouble watching a very Chinese-American Lucy Liu speaking Japanese in Kill Bill.. I dealt with it ofcourse.. But I really wish Hollywood would stop throwing asians together like they all are the same. I would rather see a famous Japanese actress that is not known in North America then someone I clearly know is Chinese and can't speak Japanese or English.

I totally agree, but I trust Zhang Ziyi as a good actress (in my opinion) and have faith she will play the role well. I'm sure it will be done better than Lucy Liu in Kill Bill, which I found was just plain irritating when speaking japanese!

[May]

Originally Posted by playaa

I agree, why not use the girl from The Last Samurai? I do believe she is a much better pick than Zhang.

Agree~~koyuki(actress of Last Samurai) is far better than Zhang Ziyi. Zhang doesn't have good acting skills really.

[Meiki]

Originally Posted by May

Agree~~koyuki(actress of Last Samurai) is far better than Zhang Ziyi. Zhang doesn't have good acting skills really.

Although I'm totally for the japanese actress thing, I wouldn't say Ziyi can't act.

But I think there are more suitable (and more beautiful) actresses than Koyuki.

There are loads of good actors and actresses on this site:

http://www.jdorama.com

And I don't think Ziyi is the most beautiful chinese actress or woman ever, I've seen prettier ones.

[Flashjeff]

Originally Posted by Meiki

Although I'm totally for the japanese actress thing, I wouldn't say Ziyi can't act.

But I think there are more suitable (and more beautiful) actresses than Koyuki.

There are loads of good actors and actresses on this site:

http://www.jdorama.com

And I don't think Ziyi is the most beautiful chinese actress or woman ever, I've seen prettier ones.

As I've stated previously in this thread, it isn't a matter of prettier or more accomplished actresses than Zhang Ziyi, it's solely a matter of recognition. American movie audiences know who Zhang is from "CDHT", "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", so moviegoers will be more likely to see the movie because she's in it, thus, increasing the chances of "Geisha" succeeding. Inane? Certainly, but that's the way the suits in Hollywood think, and with millions riding on the movie, producers don't want to risk failure if an unknown doesn't drawn in the crowds. Plain and simple.

[Meiki]

Anyway, I've seen more beautiful chinese (upcoming) actresses when I went to visit the Beijing Drama Academy and attended a festival organized by CCTV.

And Ziyi's personality doesn't stick out.

[Iron Chef]

Last time I checked physical attraction wasn't the sole criterion for playing this coveted role. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder my friend and even if YOU think there are plenty of more attractive actresses, does that mean they have the acting chops to pull this part off? I actually like the Koyuki idea myself because she's already garnered a bit of publicity from her Samurai debut with N. American audiences not to mention her drama with that SMAP dude here in J-land is doing pretty well atm although ZZ ain't a bad choice.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of physically appealing and talented actresses out there who I have never heard of and fit the bill for this role but Hollywood won't take a chance on a relative unknown with such a prized intellectual property like Memoirs imho. I think Flashjeff was right though about how Hollywood chooses which actor/actresses can garner the most exposure and ZZ definitely has enough cross-cultural appeal. Zhang certainly is popular in Japan also (atm anyways) judging from the number of CMs she sports. Anyways, I look forward to seeing this film finally brought to big-screen. Hopefully they can do the novel justice.