BEHR’S TRANSLATION GRUDGE
Just like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr experienced many of the same challenges that she had to endure while on the set of Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Films, The Grudge, which is a remake of a classic Japanese series entitled Ju-on. Read on for the full story.
‘Jason Behr, who co-stars in the upcoming supernatural horror movie The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that he welcomed the opportunity to live and work in Tokyo during production. The former Roswell star is part of a cast that includes Sarah Michelle Gellar and Bill Pullman in the English-language remake of the hit Japanese film Ju-On and its sequels, about a curse that is passed down from one group of people to another in a house in Tokyo.
‘They sent me a script,’ Behr said in an interview during a break in production in Tokyo. ‘I read it, and I knew they wanted to shoot it in Japan, which is a huge plus for me. I’ve been fascinated by Japanese culture and history for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to come to Japan and spend a good amount of time here. And then they sent me the movie, Ju-On, the first one, and the moment I saw it I thought, this is so different, so unique in the texture of the movie, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.’
Behr and his co-stars had to learn the differences between American filmmaking and Japanese movie production. Ju-On creator Takashi Shimizu is also directing The Grudge and is working with a Japanese crew at Tokyo’s famed Toho Studios.
‘Well, there’s definitely a sense of being ‘lost in translation,” Behr said. ‘I think that, you know, you have to go through Shimizu-san and then the interpreter, and it took some time to get used to that format. But now I find myself not so much paying attention to [the translator], but watching [the director] as he’s telling me what he’s saying. Because he’s very expressive, his hands. You start to really read him and what he wants from you. So what was a real big communication gap is now a small one.’
Behr and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Gellar have been spending time off the set as well, getting to see the sights, Behr added. ‘We can go and shop for 300-year-old samurai swords and go watch sumo wrestling and kabuki and walk down this massive city and see all these giant buildings with all the blinking lights, and walk around the corner and see this ancient Shinto shrine,’ he said. ‘And you can’t get that anywhere else in the world.’ The Grudge is slated for a fall release.’
Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting
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