Hanger: music + art + fashion

I went to the new Batman movie’s big Japan premier on July 28 (Mon). It was a last-minute invitation by my old PR friend. It isn’t a rare occasion that I am invited to an event like this because of my entertainment connections in Tokyo and Los Angeles. I, however, usually turn down those offers because I don’t like the way people here execute movie-related publicity event. There is a rather disturbing behavioral pattern in Japanese people working in this industry, and it’s shown so vividly at events like this that deal with things and people from the western countries.

What are those behaviors? They so shamelessly idolize, or worship, anything and everything that’s from the glorified western (aka “white”) culture. I’m not going to delve further into this discussion here, but that’s quite embarrassing. At most “western” movie premiers, bilingual Japanese MC ladies, who look more like Yoko Ono than Anne Hathaway in their attempt to look as western and un-asian as possible, say unbelievably flattering things about the movies and the talents that they are paid so handsomely to promote. What makes this work is that the Japanese audience (the media and the fans) at those events are so gullible and hungry for anything western that’s glorified that they just cheer and go for it.

The Japanese idolization of anything western has come so far that, in recent years, PR agencies here are throwing big loud Hollywood-style movie premieres whenever they succeed in bringing the principle talents to Japan for publicity. I’m talking about the red carpet things. Seriously, someone must stand up and stop them from doing this. It just cannot be done well in this country. At “The Dark Knight” premier on Monday, a Japanese reporter was asking Maggie Gyllenhaal totally irrelevant questions in pitifully bad English. Gyllenhaal, a beautiful actress who I think gave one of the most delightful performances this decade in “Secretary” costarring James Spader, looked so perplexed facing this male interviewer on the red carpet.  

Oh, this is totally random, but I think Gyllenhaal looks a bit like Susan Stroman, Broadway’s super director / choreographer (”Contact”, “The Producers”, “Young Frankenstein” among numerous hits). What do you think?

Right before the screening started, the cast, the director and the producers gave speech and/or answered questions from a not-quite-Anne-Hathaway-but-look-more-like-Yoko-Ono MC. A male producer read a prepared note in Japanese. It was so long, and unfortunately, nobody in audience seemed to understand what he was saying, except for “arigato”. Christian Bale and Gyllenhaal gave short and beautiful speeches. From the speeches alone, I could see why they are two of the most respected actors of their generation. Bale’s speech was in Japanese, and I could understand every single word he said. That he spoke in Japanese brought me back the memory of his charismatic performance as a young kid in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun”.

Aaron Eckhart was the standout at the premier. I don’t remember if his speech was Japanese or English, but he was so charming and energetic that I wish he had been the producer of the movie with long speech. He could have pulled off that infamous prepared speech even if his Japanese had been half as good as that producer’s. Just by listening to his words, I knew that this is an intelligent and talented actor who’s at the top of his game.

However, I don’t think he has the look that can make him a big movie star in Japan, even though he has blue eyes and blonde hair. Guys like Brad Pitt and, to a lesser degree, Ashton Kutcher can be enormously popular here because they look boyish and that’s what sells in this country. Christian Bale was a big teen idol when Empire came out, but he ended up becoming just an underground movie star when he lost his boyish look as he got older. With two great Batman performances under his belt and next year’s Terminator Salvation, Bale, however, can become the male version of Jodie Foster, a former child actor who’s so good that she can sell tickets even in her 40’s. 

Oh, back to Kucher talk!!!! I’m often told that I look like him. That’s kinda nice…

On stage, director Christopher Nolan answered questions about late Heath Ledger. I don’t remember anything he said because I was busy thinking if I should skip the screening and meet him in person with my proposal. I’m pretty sure you guessed right. Maybe, he would be interested in casting me in the Joker role in his next Batman movie. I’ve been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic reaction to my performance as Tokyo Evil Joker in the upcoming untitled fantasy movie I made with Telemakfilms, and am definitely interested in working with Nolan in the next installment of the caped crusader saga. However, with Ledger’s untimely death and my manager’s absence,  I decided that it would be inappropriate to propose the idea at the premier.

O.K, a short early review starts here. I can’t say much about it because of the usual media embargo. But, “The Dark Knight” is one of the best crime action movies from Hollywood. That says a lot as that’s the town where “Chinatown”, “Heat”, “L.A. Confidential” and numerous other classic crime movies have been made. The story is engaging. The pacing / editing cannot be better. Action scenes are breathtaking. Performances are wonderful across the board. The movie is really about Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent character, and Eckhart carries the movie with grace. All the hype surrounding Heath Ledger as Joker is true: he created one of the most memorable villains in movie history. It’s a kind of performance that you want to experience over and over.

“The Dark Night” opens in Japan on August 9 (Sat). Go see it.

Hiro Super