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What do you think about the original ?Ju-On??
It opened, I heard, yesterday. Jason [Behr] told me it opened here yesterday. Copycats, whatever! It was really important, to all of us there - specifically I think Jason, myself and Shimizu - [to preserve the spirit of the original]. I got to take one person with me to see this very, very, very rough screening. When I say rough, some of it was actually storyboards.
I'm talking very rough. And my friend was so genuinely freaking freaked out, she said to me afterwards, "You know what that was like? I feel like I just saw a Japanese film and I didn't need the subtitles. I understood." To me, that was the biggest compliment anybody could bring.
The whole reason for doing this was to be part of something different. This is the first time a Japanese film has been remade for American audiences, using the original Japanese director. There is an honor and a pride that comes with that, and a pressure. So I truly think we achieved that. Yes, there are going to be some things that are a little more American just because it is made for American and European audiences. But the spirit and the heart and the soul, I think, is truly Japanese.
What are the challenges of working with a director that doesn't speak English?
It's very difficult to make a lunch order (laughing). It's not as challenging as you would think it would be. I don't know you but we're having a conversation and hopefully communicating fairly well, and you'd think it would be difficult when you don't have the words to rely on but you wind up connecting on this different level.
You look so intently. You know, sometimes you have a tendency when you're talking to drift, but you have to go like this [stares] because you really need to get the essence of what someone is saying. You look for body language, or lilts in voices, and because of that it's kind of like a deeper connection. Raja Gosnell, who directed both ?Scooby? movies, used to have this joke with me that my humor was so sort of sardonic that he never knew if I was kidding or serious. And sometimes I wouldn't tell him just to see if he would figure it out. And in like two weeks, Shimizu, I would say something totally deadpan and he'd start laughing. Not necessarily knowing what I said, but understanding that it was my way of making a joke. So it wasn't as complicated.
I think what was more complicated than necessarily the English language vs. Japanese language, was the cultural differences. Americans are very gregarious. You know, we touch people when we're talking, even if we don?t know them. We speak much more intimately, and you know, the Japanese don't do that. I remember in the beginning it was constantly a struggle because Shimizu would want to know why Karen and Doug (Jason and my couple) would always talk closer together and touch more than the married couple. We tried to explain to him, "That's like America!" He didn't understand that and we'd have to constantly explain that you know, "This is the American way." It was sort of like meeting halfway. So I think that was probably your bigger barrier, but not really a problem.
What's a typical deadpan thing you would do to somebody? A ?I just broke my foot? type of thing or what?
No, no. Just bad jokes. I'm from New York, I make kind of somewhat maybe lewd, at times - maybe some would say dirty - jokes. But in jest.
The actress from the original movie plays the villain?
A couple of the same actors. The child and the husband.
Is it the same exact makeup that's already been seen in the original?
No. I mean, everything is going to be heightened a little bit. Even just in general, because we used different lenses and different film stock for very technical reasons. And also, just as a change for people who have already seen it. It will be interesting.
It [the original] didn't open very wide, I take it? It will be interesting to see, once this opens, if then they re-open it or if they do a big DVD release. I think there will be an interest. I just think that you have to whet people's appetites solely with stuff like that. I've always been a fan of that cinema, and it took - it was my husband that really got me involved in it - it took awhile. It's hard to watch things with subtitles. You don't always know where to look, and if you're missing stuff, and so I think it's unfortunate that it's coming out before because I feel like, after this more people will see it. That's what I think.
SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR - "THE GRUDGE" INTERVIEW: CONTINUED ON PAGE 3:
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