Ryoko Yonekura Interview
Recorded on November 21, 2001
Can you tell us about your first action movie?
Honestly speaking,
action movies themselves were not an area that I was interested in before now,
well, as the person who would be watching them.
But when I'm the person making an action movie,
I thought there would be tons of things or problems which I would have to take care of,
but I thought it might be more fun to do an action movie
than to just watch it, and I thought I could try.
It might be fun.
That's what I thought.
What was your first impression about the director?
He's a big guy, really, so I was scared until I said good morning to him.
After we started to talk, while watching him touching his cap like this,
I thought he might be a kind person.
Yes, I thought so.
What was your impression after reading the scenario for the first time?
I had thought that action movies didn't have real content,
but this story...
had a real story, based on your own feelings,
and how she really takes action.
I regret that I was not able to enact when she was little,
but it was interesting to me, yeah.
Didn't you have any questions about the story?
There's something wrong with her leg, well, she doesn't have a leg
and she walks holding a rocket launcher, well...
I had no idea how I could act in a ridiculous scene like that.
But when I was told not to care too much about it,
then I started to relax.
In the book, there are lots of scenes
which could never happen in the real world,
such as,
a rocket launcher hidden in her leg,
and well, there are more.
Yeah, her leg. The knife penetrated through her leg,
but the leg survived from her thigh,
how did it happen?
Something like that.
Those scenes were mysterious to me,
in other words, made me feel insecure,
but I was told that it's okay,
and since I've worked with the Director, Mr. Muroga,
while we've been making this movie together,
I started to understand the meaning of "it's okay".
Therefore, well, I'm not good at explaining this with my words, but anyway,
I think I understood in my heart that I don't need to think
too hard about those scenes.
What was your impression after doing the action scenes?
I've never hit people or kicked people since I was little,
I've never done those things.
Even fooling around,
I've not had any experience with that,
but my body is very flexible,
so I can kick high or swing around,
so it means I can understand somehow, even if it's not really easy.
When someone told me that,
you move your leg this way, then when you bring it back,
it would be better to move this way, I can get it somehow.
Well, what part of my body I have to gather my power,
or in order to do so, where and how I should grab,
and the physical power comes from what direction, those things,
it sounds a little too argumentative,
but I learned a lot from those theories,
like oh, I see, it goes that way, then it should be like that.
Probably, those theories can be very useful in other areas,
other than action movies, and I was glad to have done this.
I wanted to keep doing it longer.
What was most difficult for you in terms of actions?
Well, posture.
Probably,
because my posture was definitely wrong,
how to concentrate my physical power.
I think I was unable to understand what part of my body I should protect
the most at the beginning.
Have you ever had any experience with martial arts?
No.
Not at all.
Also, I don't like it.
I don't like boxing,
or karate, I don't hate karate,
but pro wrestling,
those somewhat bloody things, I don't like them much.
What's the purpose in getting hurt and showing their pain?
That's what I felt,
so I was not interested in martial arts very much.
Can't you learn to like action movies yet?
Yes,
but it's interesting if you are on the production side of it.
But I wondered if I was hurt more and more,
what would I become,
or like in this movie,
Mr. Tsurumi used a golf club to hit someone,
or almost hit someone, while I was watching the scene,
I felt that his way of doing things like that was too cruel to do,
but when I watch while I'm making this movie, I think those scenes are interesting.
That's why my interest in action movies has increased.
Have you ever been in violent situations?
No, I haven't.
Being hurt by father, or something like that,
I never experienced it.
I was raised pretty happily,
so it never happened to me.
Was it difficult for you to act violent?
The director was talking very fast right before he said, "Start".
He was talking like the last scene was so and so, and now, so and so
and going to be so and so... how can I say...
He's good.
He's good and the image I have
and the image he has,
when those images synchronized, I felt very good,
even in the hate scenes.
Did you feel nervous?
That feeling disappeared immediately the first day of shooting,
all of a sudden, gone.
I felt it was very easy to work with him,
and when I asked him a question,
the answer came out instantly.
I thought, I'm making the movie, which this man wants to make.
So, while I'm working with him,
if I tell him and he understands what I want to make, he'll understand me,
and if he doesn't like it, he'll tell me so.
That's why I didn't need to hesitate to ask him anything.
I thought, I would do the work without worrying too much,
like, oh, if I ask him things like that, it might be a bad idea,
or if I ask him this, he might get mad or something.
Then, sometimes I asked him after I acted, like,
I did it this way and how was it?
I could have discussed more though.
If he doesn't mind, I would like to see him,
to work with him someday, somewhere one more time.
What is your impression about the director after shooting the movie?
Probably, that he is a very serious man.
He loves making movies so much,
because he keeps talking about movies.
He talks about it seriously no matter how much he drinks,
still he keeps talking about it seriously.
I believe that he really loves movies.
I like movies, unexpectedly,
so he seems an interesting person.
How about your impressions of your other co-stars?
During my career, it's a pretty short period of time,
but I thought I'd meet a certain kind of people in a certain world,
which was not the same world with the people I have met before.
Well, almost all of them are like that.
For example, Mr. Shu, Mr. Yamato and Mr. Sugata.
But Mr. Ukaji, whom I thought I had met in a different drama,
but was not the same person, I felt so about him at the closing party.
Other than those people, Ms. Aizome,
also Mr. Tsurumi, those, I felt the same way.
I've seen Mr. Tsurumi on TV before
so I imagined his character in some way.
When he brought his friends and he wants to work with those people,
I thought there is a circle in the world that I didn't know about.
It was a good experience for me to meet those people.
Who left the strongest impression on you among your co-stars?
Mr. Sugata,
he acted the part of the very useless detective,
he was impressive.
In the scene inside of the police department,
or at the scene in the bar,
in the abandoned area,
when Akira brought him in,
those were impressive scenes.
I'm not talking about how he looked in the movie,
but he made me feel good.
I got mad in the story,
and when I expected him to cooperate with me, and he understood how I felt.
In the miserable scene,
the scene I was hit at the first time in the movie,
where was that?
The port, the scenes shot there,
I felt his misery very strongly.
He was good.
His voice was good.
What images did you have in mind about portraying the main character?
I didn't want to react to shooting too much from the beginning.
In the shooting scenes,
when someone fires a gun
and I am looking at it very calmly,
I want viewers to wonder if this girl is familiar with those things,
or if she is not familiar, but she hides the fear.
Viewers can't tell, who is this girl?
That's what I wanted to make viewers think.
I did it in my way,
but I might not have shown her getting upset enough.
But at the factory, when I went to Akira's factory,
and told him a guy was murdered,
the way of telling that, I tied to being an ordinary person,
but might be familiar with those things.
I wanted to show that.
The days of filming those scenes were far apart.
I think it helped me, probably.
What type of woman did you want to act like?
I wanted to look composed all the time.
I didn't want to be lost against the guns.
Honestly speaking,
I wanted to show a cool face after slamming into something in other scenes.
I thought that's the way it is.
Also,
against men,
I didn't want to lose against them,
but a woman is, well,
I wanted to act like a woman who is a woman but surpasses men.
That's what I wanted to be.
Which scene did you like best?
The scene in which Tojo brought out a golf club,
and I was hit by it.
I think my face was pretty ugly in that scene, showing that I got nailed.
I think I did the best there.
I pretty much gave up myself in there.
So ugly, and I was probably drooling.
Yes, I did the best there.
After you finished the last scene, what was on your mind?
I finished everything
and I didn't know what to do,
and also I was able to finish the revenge.
I've been thinking only of it for fifteen years and finally I did it.
I also felt that nothing was left. Maybe...
The tears in the last scene, did you plan to do that?
I wish that the impact, when I fired the rocket launcher, was stronger.
It could have been better.
But in that scene,
I don't think it's a scene where the heroine cries with lots of tears.
So, it should be good to show the tears almost coming out or not.
So I risked myself in that scene.
Tears stay in the eyes, or only one drop, and it was really enough.
If I had to keep acting in that scene, the director said "Cut" right there,
so it was good, and he rescued me.
If an offer comes to you to do another action movie, what would you do?
I want to do it, definitely.
I want to practice a couple of times per week,
well, not practice...
Someone makes my schedule for each day
and I have to live with it first,
but I'd want to do the movie.
At last, please comment to your fans.
Gun Crazy, A Woman From Nowhere,
for me, this movie made it possible for me to experience
lots of things for the first time.
You will be able to see the "unknown" me, Ryoko Yonekura.
I enjoyed it, so please enjoy the movie.