Hiroyuki Sanada interview "The City of Your Final Destination" - Vol. 3

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Q. During the filming of COYFD, in Buenos Aires, did you do fishing? We also heard that you were in accident.

HS. Well, Buenos Aires is close to the sea, but the place we stayed, Estancia, is two hours south of it. There was only a small stream nearby, so I could not do any fishing. But the place was a big open space, so I did bicycling, or swimming with others, enjoyed the things I could do at the place. And yes, I got into an accident. I was on a production car, and I usually took the front seat. One day on the way back from the location, the car slipped and rolled sideways. But with my stunt experience, when I felt the crash was coming, I stamped my feet, held tightly onto the car with both hands. So the car rolled three times, and at the first impact, I hit my head, because even with the seatbelt, you can slip out upwards. And it was funny, I remembered a scene where Omar gets into an accident and I say "don't move, don't move" in my bad Spanish. So I realized I should not move. Then I was taken to the hospital and had 5 stitches in my head. But at that time, I was working in "Rush Hour 3" concurrently, so I had to go back to L.A. quickly. I went to Buenos Aires, to check whether I could fly. They gave me the green light so I flew back to L.A., took one scene, removed the stiches in UCLA, then went back to Buenos Aires. So in Rush Hour, in some scenes I had stitches. (laugh) But thankfully there is no after effect. Coincidentally, Pete says in a film, about the time when Jules shot himself, "lucky that it was me who found it, not anybody else", and I felt exactly the same way. If it was not me, child actor, actress, or Anthony, I don't think they could take the body position I took. (laugh) I felt really lucky that it was me. The director came to see me in the hospital that night, and I told him as soon as I saw him, exactly that line, and he had a bitter smile. (laugh) After that, they replaced the car to a sturdier one, and placed tougher safety standards to the drivers. If not, there might have been even bigger accident later. So I explained to the director that it was "yaku-otoshi" in Japanese tradition (meaning that you take a small bad thing early to avoid bigger one later), and to the other team members when I got back to the set, when everyone was so concerned, saying that "it was just a yaku-otoshi, so don't worry, it will be OK". I spread one Japanese tradition to everyone. (bow and laugh)

Q. How was Pete's character different from the original novel?

HS. Yes, there are two major changes about Pete from the original. The first is nationality. Originally he was from Thailand, but because I was casted, they changed the script to Japanese. He was set as from the poor, broken family and was in a orphanage, so the script writer imagined a small isolated island. I wondered why Tokunoshima, but because my actual mother's family was in Amami-Oshima, so I guessed that maybe she went extra miles to research it. I made myself to think and appreciate that way. In the film, Omar would not understand where Tokunoshima was, so I inserted a bit ad-lib. But it is very nice that they change the script, respecting my nationality, and I want to continue on to insist on that point.

Q. Did you quit smoking?

HS. Yes, I did, when I decided to live in L.A. So it has been 8 years. I quit exactly after "The Last Samurai" premiere ended, on that day. During the post-production, I stayed here to supervise, and realized that there was no place to smake, in offices, studio or anywhere. It was so inconvenient, and to smoke just one cigarette, I had to leave the studio for 10 minutes, and during that 10 minutes, incredible session would occur, like in the music production. I was there to encounter that very thing, and I missed it for a cigarette, so I thought it was stupid. I had already decided to live here, so not just inconvenience, but it was also a self-trial to test how serious I was. I decided to quit smoking to live here, so I wanted to test how serious I was to make it in Hollywood. I have not smoked since, you calle it "cold turkey", right? (laugh) So in this film, I smoked and it was after such a long time. So the director was very concerned, because after all the effort to stop, if I restarted again, he would have felt a big resonsibility. So I told him, "don't worry, I will smoke the last one in Buenos Aires Airport, and then I will promise to stop after that". Anthony also asked me "do you smoke regularly?", I answered "I am doing it only for the film and will stop after this," and he said "promise me to keep those words, there is nothing good about smoking." Two big figures concerned about it for me, and I could not continue, of course. I started resuming it little by little at the start of filming, so I wouldn't choke, but after I left Estancia after the tearful farewell, I have not smoked a single cigarette. I didn't even get to Buenos Aires Airport. In L.A., I even forget that I was smoking, so I guess I am OK now. If required in a role, I still would, but my body does not need it. Thank you for being concerned for me. (bow)

May 01, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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