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Japanese adaptation a challenge
Source: Agencies |
November 27, 2010, Saturday
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VIETNAMESE-FRENCH film-maker Tran Anh Hung faced a tough challenge in bringing a Haruki Murakami story of love and loss to the screen, 23 years after the book, "Norwegian Wood," enchanted millions of Japanese readers and raised the author's profile globally.
But Tran, who won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival for his 1995 film "Cyclo," said it was never an option to make "Norwegian Wood" outside Japan or in another language.
Tran first wrote the screenplay in French, had it translated into English and eventually Japanese, and relied on help from his producer in communicating with the actors.
"Murakami was very open and said I could adapt it in any language I wanted and in any place in the world," Tran said ahead of the film's December release in Japan.
"But I said I wanted to film Japanese faces, because what attracted me in the novel is that it's Japanese," he said.
Murakami, however, was initially reluctant to allow the novel to be adapted to the big screen, and it took Tran and producer Shinji Ogawa four years to win the author's approval after a series of meetings and discussions about the script.
"Norwegian Wood," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, is the first film adaptation of a major Murakami work, but Tran said he didn't feel pressure despite high expectations from many of the author's fans.
"The book is the book and the film is the film. The only pressure is to make a good film," he said.
Set in the late 1960s against a backdrop of campus protests, "Norwegian Wood" revolves around university student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and his first love, Naoko - also the former girlfriend of Watanabe's best friend, Kizuki, who committed suicide.
When Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), still distraught over Kizuki's death, drops out of school and checks into a convalescence home, Watanabe also finds himself drawn to Midori (Kiko °?Mizuhara), whose vivacious personality cuts a sharp contrast with the emotionally scarred Naoko.
Tran said the decision to cast Kikuchi, an Academy Award nominee for Best °?Supporting Actress in 2006's "Babel," as Naoko, had a major impact on the film in that he organized?all the other actors according to her and her character.
But Tran, who won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival for his 1995 film "Cyclo," said it was never an option to make "Norwegian Wood" outside Japan or in another language.
Tran first wrote the screenplay in French, had it translated into English and eventually Japanese, and relied on help from his producer in communicating with the actors.
"Murakami was very open and said I could adapt it in any language I wanted and in any place in the world," Tran said ahead of the film's December release in Japan.
"But I said I wanted to film Japanese faces, because what attracted me in the novel is that it's Japanese," he said.
Murakami, however, was initially reluctant to allow the novel to be adapted to the big screen, and it took Tran and producer Shinji Ogawa four years to win the author's approval after a series of meetings and discussions about the script.
"Norwegian Wood," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, is the first film adaptation of a major Murakami work, but Tran said he didn't feel pressure despite high expectations from many of the author's fans.
"The book is the book and the film is the film. The only pressure is to make a good film," he said.
Set in the late 1960s against a backdrop of campus protests, "Norwegian Wood" revolves around university student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and his first love, Naoko - also the former girlfriend of Watanabe's best friend, Kizuki, who committed suicide.
When Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), still distraught over Kizuki's death, drops out of school and checks into a convalescence home, Watanabe also finds himself drawn to Midori (Kiko °?Mizuhara), whose vivacious personality cuts a sharp contrast with the emotionally scarred Naoko.
Tran said the decision to cast Kikuchi, an Academy Award nominee for Best °?Supporting Actress in 2006's "Babel," as Naoko, had a major impact on the film in that he organized?all the other actors according to her and her character.
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