MatsuKen's interview translation
It’s true that Katou and the others are placed in very bewildering circumstances. But you had to make that seem natural. How did you handle that, Matsuyama-san?
I wanted the most important thing to be the story between Katou (Masaru) and his younger brother. In the manga too that’s one of the most touching moments, so I wanted to do it properly in the movie. For Katou, it’s because he has his brother that he winds up participating in the fighting; that reason is his foundation. That’s why that part was so important. Why Katou decides to fight is very clear.
I see; that’s certainly true.
Katou…well, he’s not someone that’s fought before then. Even when actually thrown into it, he continually struggles against the idea of “battle…” He even says, “stop it” when the fighting suddenly breaks out right in front of him. He’s on the very front lines, where saying such a thing will only get you killed, but that’s how he is, even in that situation. He’s not prepared for fighting in the least-he’s just a normal guy after all. That part of him is very human, and I think it’s very much like the young people living in Japan right now, and I like that about him.
But-and I think this is something everyone who sees the movie will say-Katou is very kakkoii after all. There certainly is a part of him that cannot continue fighting forever, but taking that into consideration too, there’s a side of him that has some constancy to it, more than anyone else, don’t you think?
But, in the end Katou doesn’t do anything about it. He tries to cover that part up with his emotions. Anger or sadness, a lot of emotions come into play, and in regards to Katou, it’s how he thinks (he should) express his mind. (TN: That sentence… was really hard to translate. I think this is kinda what MatsuKen meant, but honestly I can’t be completely sure). Kurono (Kei) actually fights like he’s supposed to-and the comparison between the two was incredibly important. So Katou’s not kakkoii at all (lol).
Hmm… to me, Katou is still a very human character. He displays his morals, his way of thinking very honestly. For instance, from the point of view of the people in the front lines of battle, worrying about whether you’ll survive or not is more important than whatever your morals are. But Katou isn’t like that. His morals are more important than the issue of surviving or not. Is it right for him to fight or not. That’s why Nishi (Jouichirou)-kun calls him a hypocrite, and Katou just winds up getting in the way. That part of him…made me see how complicated it all is. Thoughts like, “In the end, I really have to fight after all” and “Even so, is there a way I can make it all stop?” We wind up thinking like this, since we live in such a peaceful world right now. I think Katou shows those human qualities too. Because he can express these things, he makes for an interesting person.
In that sense, he’s a character that symbolizes a number of those vague traits.
He’s the closest to (TN: the most like) all of us, or rather, the one we feel is the closest. I believe there’s that quality to him.
You had to convey those vague parts of Katou, not to mention in such unbelievable circumstances as he is in. Matsuyama-san, you’ve portrayed numerous parts and emotions, from anger to hesitation, but I’m sure this was the first time for you to act in such a fantastical world as this.
In one sense, it did have an unrealistic feel to it… But, I treated it with feelings as close to reality as possible. The confusion and fear of facing a different world, that feeling of being overwhelmed, and the moral struggle of not helping even though people are dying right in front of you-all those were big concepts this time. How do I describe it… acting as if you were truly being controlled by what you were seeing, that was necessary. So I tried to exaggerate that in my acting.
One could definitely feel all the variations in your acting. When you’re sad you cry, when you’re unsure you hesitate, when you’re glaring, we can guess it’s all you can do to hold back your anger. That’s one approach to portray Katou’s feelings so we can all easily see it on the screen.
Yes, I suppose so. In the same sense, the important part of this work was the acting in that room. What I mean is, if you don’t properly convey the mental state of the character when they get transferred to that room, it’ll be impossible for you to do it well once they get thrown into the battle. How clearly you portray them (in the room) will allow you to properly show the character’s emotions. Every character is expressing their own ideas, so Katou too had to express his ideas in his way. That was one of the things expected of me for this movie.
But that’s not something that can accomplished with only Katou though, is it? Of course Kurono has to be there, and the others as well. So was that idea something you all shared?
No, every character is different. For example, the one who keeps saying, “Let’s go back together” is Katou. But Kurono doesn’t think about returning together no matter what, he instead tries to find the meaning in the fight at hand. He’s the complete opposite. So it’s more like the different values of the characters come together to show us the story. That’s what makes it so interesting, in my opinion.
Now, I’d like to change the topic of our conversation. This movie was made to be at the forefront of Japanese entertainment, wasn’t it? So naturally it asked a lot of its actors and is becoming bigger. I thought that because of the meaning this movie has, it was bound to have quite an influence on your performance, Matsuyama-san. What do you think?
I think that’s certainly true. It’s clearly very different from “Norwegian Wood” for instance, and in other projects you wouldn’t get to do this kind of acting. (TN: I just watched Norwegian Wood yesterday; it was… interesting. But kinda depressing.) I believe each work has a style of acting appropriate for it. For this movie it was important for the audience to be able to pick up what I’m conveying. I wanted to make it easy for everyone to watch…that’s the kind of style I used this time. If on the other hand I did the same acting I’ve done in the past, Katou’s role in the movie would have become weaker. In the end, it’s not a story about only two people, many people are fighting, so it’s more a story of the group, in a way. In all that, it was necessary to properly portray our human qualities, and for that, there needed to be at least some tension/nervousness. If not, the whole thing would turn into a mere game, so I really tried to be careful of that.
What do you mean by that tension?
The tension of people going to war. If it was only shooting at each other, it’d be just a simple game. Actually the whole thing is like a game that GANTZ is playing, but real people are in it, not machines. That tension is what I wanted to convey the most.
I think that interpretation is very much like you, Matsuyama-san. Taking on this work with its unique world, in the end the reason you thought you could do this role was because of Katou’s practicality and humanity.
Yeah, I do think part of how I managed it is because it was Katou. I really wanted to portray someone who was very human, that’s all. So…in this work, Katou is really the only role I can play.
That worked out perfectly then (lol)
I’m not sure if I portrayed everything that well or not, but the story with his younger brother… emotions I can relate to the most, that I really wanted to try doing; I’m glad I got the chance to do it.
Lastly, as I said earlier, I think this movie will be leaving a big impact on the Japanese movie industry. In terms of action and CG effects I think it’ll become one of the standards for movies to come. What do you think the response will be to GANTZ?
As a single genre I think it's quite established itself... but, it's not like Japanese movies are only like this, and I think it's better having a lot of different methods of expression. In works I'll be involved in in the future, there may be some completely different from this one, while others might be similar. So for now my goal will be to simply use the right expressions at the right time. The projects I've done up to now have each had their own meaning to me, and I feel that many of them were unique even among Japanese films. So I won't say anything for now about the expectations of GANTZ changing the Japanese movie industry, I'll only say that I hope to continue enjoying what I do.
That's all. I rather liked how MatsuKen answered that last question. ^_^ Actually, the whole thing was really interesting, just to hear how he viewed/interpreted GANTZ and how different from Nino it was. Kinda cool to get a new perspective on the same movie.
Hope you enjoyed it? Sorry again that it took forever to do. >.<
Anyways... I don't really have anything else to add at this point, lol, so I'll just stop typing.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend?