Rob Marshall turnes to Ken Watanabe and Zhang Ziyi to lead his highly-anticipated Memoirs of a Geisha.
By Lisa Johnson
Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) has been signed and will be joined by an ensemble of international actors led by Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Youki Kudoh (Snow Falling on Cedars) and Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?) who are in final negotiations to star in Columbia Pictures/DreamWorks Films/Spyglass Entertainment's feature film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha for Academy Award-nominated director Rob Marshall. Steven Spielberg, Doug Wick, Lucy Fisher are producing.
Based on Arthur Golden's bestselling novel, the film revolves around a Geisha recounting her difficult life as a child in Japan, then moving up through the exotic and mysterious ranks of the complicated geisha system. The project will begin production this September in Los Angeles and Japan. The script was written by Ron Bass, Akiva Goldsman and Robin Swicord.
"We could not be more excited about the extraordinary cast that we have in place for Memoirs of a Geisha," said Marshall. "We are adapting a beloved piece of literature that has become a worldwide sensation, which made it important to me to assemble a cast with a prestigious international profile. I cannot wait to begin production this fall."
"From the time I first read Arthur Golden's novel, I wanted to see this as a film," Spielberg said. "It's a uniquely compelling story rich with characters who take you into a world you have never experienced before, and there is no one better than Rob Marshall to bring all the poetry and artistry of Arthur Golden's novel to movie theaters all over the world."
Meanwhile, the Asian community, particularly the Japanese actors, are abuzz over the decision to cast so many Chinese actors in a film set in Japan, about a very Japanese subject.
Watanabe, however, is universally considered an excellent choice. He received an Academy Award nomination for The Last Samurai and is a top box office attraction in his native Japan. Watanabe will portray The Chairman, the high-powered executive with whom the young geisha, Sayuri, falls in love. Watanabe, who stars in the upcoming Batman Begins, is also familiar to American audiences from the popular Japanese comedy Tampopo.
More controversial is the choice of Chinese-born actress Zhang Ziyi to portray Sayuri, the beautiful young orphan from a remote fishing village whose life changes forever when she is sent to the city to learn the ways of the geisha. Zhang portrayed the rebellious Jen Yu in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Her credits also include Rush Hour 2, Purple Butterfly and the upcoming films Hero, 2046 and House of Flying Daggers.
Memoirs of a Geisha reunites Zhang with her Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon co-star and sparring partner Michelle Yeoh, who will portray Mameha, the elegant and experienced geisha who becomes Sayuri's mentor. The Malaysian-born action star was also featured in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
Another Chinese-born actress, Gong Li, will portray Sayuri's stunning and treacherous rival Hatsumomo. Gong achieved international celebrity in Ju Dou, Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad and other acclaimed films, including The Emperor and the Assassin, Temptress Moon and Farewell My Concubine. Gong recently co-starred along side Zhang in director Kar Wai Wong's soon-to-be-released 2046.
Memoirs of a Geisha is also utilizing the talents of Liza Dalby, world-renowned geisha expert and author of many definitive works on the culture of the geisha including Geisha and Kimono, as consultant in the making of this film.
I LOVE this book. It's one of my favourites. I can't wait!!! I always thought it would make an excellent movie. Sounds like it will be good movie too, lots of big names signing up. Woo Hoo!
BEIJING, Jan. 31 -- Steven Spielberg's latest project ‘Memoirs of a Geisha,' which stars Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li, has finished shooting in Japan.
The main members of the cast including Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh met the press early today (Monday) in Tokyo.
Zhang Ziyi did not appear at the press conference because she is currently working on other projects in Europe.
The film is scheduled to hit theaters in Japan at the end of this year. It is predicted that the epic project will be a strong competitor at next year's Oscars.
Cars are lined up along the street outside the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, which is not in itself an unusual sight. But these are vintage 1930s autos. Collectors' items. And idling nearby are even less commonly seen vehicles from that period: rickshaws.
Something's going on here.
Crossing a pathway in the park is Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, dressed in an elegant kimono, with a down jacket over it to guard against the morning cold. She smiles sweetly and heads toward the Tea Garden. At one edge of the Tea Garden, under a cherry tree in full blossom, director Rob Marshall ("Chicago") is lining up a shot for later in the day.
For two weeks earlier this month, the Bay Area played host to the cast and crew of "Memoirs of a Geisha," an estimated $100 million adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel that is targeted by Columbia Pictures for a high-profile Christmas release.
Produced by Steven Spielberg, among others, and starring Zhang (in her English-speaking debut), Michelle Yeoh, Ken Watanabe and Gong Li, "Memoirs" also may prefigure a resurgence of big-time filmmaking in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
One of Mayor Gavin Newsom's objectives has been to double efforts to get films made here -- there has been a lull in the past few years because of the perceived high price of filming in the Bay Area combined with the economic downturn. In September, Newsom appointed a new executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission, Stefanie Coyote, along with 11 film commissioners -- industry professionals who meet about once a month. The commission is budgeted at $350,000 a year and charged with attracting an industry Newsom says can bring upward of $365 million to the city's economy.
The commission's efforts are already paying dividends; feature films that have used San Francisco as a location during the past few months include "Darwin Awards," starring Winona Ryder and David Arquette; "Rumor Has It," directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jennifer Aniston and Mark Ruffalo; and "Just Like Heaven," starring Reese Witherspoon and Ruffalo. Chris Columbus' film adaptation of "Rent" begins shooting here in about a month.
"The revenue created for the city is measured in a number of ways," Coyote said. "They stay in hotels, so we collect hotel tax; they hire people, so we get payroll tax; they buy lumber; they buy paint; they eat in restaurants; they use dry cleaners. If we can get them here, there will be a lot of trickle-down benefits."
"Memoirs" may be the most prestigious production to shoot here of late. The film, which will be in English, is about an orphaned young girl, Sayuri (Zhang, star of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "House of Flying Daggers"), who is sold to a geisha house in 1929 and quickly becomes a highly sought-after young woman during the 1930s, as Japan's militaristic government prepares for war. She has a jealous rival, Hatsumomo (Gong); a protective "mother," Mameha (Yeoh); and a disfigured suitor known as the Chairman (Watanabe, nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for "The Last Samurai").
Others in the cast include Koji Yakusho ("Shall We Dance?"), Tsai Chin ("The Joy Luck Club") and Youki Kudoh ("Snow Falling on Cedars").
The production filmed mostly in the Los Angeles area, especially Ventura County, where a replica of a Japanese village was built on three acres of land. Northern California locations included a vintage train station in Sacramento, the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve at Moss Beach, Muir Beach, the Presidio and some locations in Sonoma County. After filming in the Bay Area was completed, the company headed to Japan to finish the shoot.
"This area is exactly what we needed, and they've been great to us," said Patty Whitcher, one of the film's producers. "Although the rain here (in early January) caused us to significantly alter our schedule, the weather is really bad in Japan, one of the reasons why we're filming here. This is a story that takes place in all kinds of seasons over the course of several years, and this area is helping us capture that."
Filming in the Bay Area isn't cheap: For the right to turn part of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve into a Japanese fishing village (Sayuri's hometown), the production paid $18,000 in permit fees and made a $28,000 donation to the San Mateo Parks and Recreation Foundation.
The company paid in excess of $100,000 to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to compensate for revenue lost during the three days of filming at the Japanese Tea Garden, a popular tourist site, and for special gardening fees, which benefited the facility when it reopened.
The Chronicle was permitted to visit the "Memoirs" set in the park but was not allowed to witness filming. The scene that day involved Zhang, Yeoh and Watanabe in the interior of the Tea Garden. Equipment trucks and trailers were parked outside the walls; a crane hoisted a solid black silk drape to block out the sun. Extras dressed in period clothing -- men in sharp-looking suits and fedoras, women in colorful kimonos -- milled about, waiting for their call to the set and frequenting the table filled with sandwiches, croissants and coffee. The exterior of the Tea Garden was dressed to represent the exterior of a school. Leading up to the "school" were two walls of wood that formed a 20-yard pathway; each wall featured false doors and 1930s military posters in Japanese. On the big screen, that narrow passageway will look like a small street paved with pebbles, with houses and storefronts.
Yes, it was a fantasy land. It seemed as though the only reality to be found was that beautiful cherry tree.
But wait -- it's January. Closer inspection revealed that each tiny blossom was made of silk, each delicately fastened to a branch. •
If I remember correctly, this movie is the reason John Williams isn't doing the music for the 4th Harry Potter music. Apparently Stephen Speilberg was going to direct, which brought JW onboard, but Speilberg didn't end up directing, but Williams stayed on anyways.
'Memoirs of a Geisha' NYC Premiere 12/6 | LA Premiere 12/4
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Actors Youki Kodoh, left, Michelle Yeoh, center, and Ziyi Zhang arrive at the world premiere of 'Memoirs of Geisha' at the Zeigfeld Theater in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)
Producer Steven Spielberg (L) poses with cast members Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (C) and Japanese actor Ken Watanabe as they arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of Columbia Pictures' 'Memoirs of a Geisha' at the Kodak theatre in Hollywood December 4, 2005. The movie is based on the novel by Arthur Golden and tells the story of a Japanese child (Zhang Ziyi) who goes from working as a maid in a geisha house to becoming the legendary geisha Sayuri. The movie opens in the U.S. on December 9. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Leading casts of director Rob Marshall's latest film 'Sayuri,' a movie version of the best-selling novel 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' pose for photographers during a press conference in Tokyo Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. 'Sayuri' will be simultaneously relesed in Japan and the United States on Dec. 10. Shown from left: Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, and Japanese actor Ken Watanabe. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
American film director Rob Marshall, left, poses with leading casts in his latest film 'Sayuri,' a movie version of the best-selling novel 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' during a press conference in Tokyo Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. 'Sayuri' will be simultaneously released in Japan and the United States on Dec. 10. Shown from left: Marshall, Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, Japanese actress Suzuka Ohgo, Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, and Japanese actress Youki Kudoh. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Woo Hoo!