Interview 121106RK

Year-long Audition

The whole thing started with the audition, which was a long, hard process, but Rinko stuck with it.

"First, I heard that Alejandro (Inarritu) was holding an audition from an actor, and I asked to participate. A video with a hearing impaired girl playing a scene with sign language was sent to me, and I was supposed to memorize that sign language to show at the audition.

By that time, the audition was already under way with several other candidates. I really wanted this role, as my last chance to play a 16-year-old at the actual age of 25. The director was looking for the real hearing impaired person, so I was the only non-hearing-impaired candidate. I think he was checking to see how I played Chieko, rather than the sign language ability itself.

During the audition, I got a small scene and recorded it once or twice each month. I put a lot of thoughts about how I approach this role, and each time I showed the director my step-up process for nearly a year."

Nudity as a tool

In the beautiful city lights backed by Ryuichi Sakamoto's piano ballad, her most memorable scenes include full nudity, but she handled it professionally.

"I knew that the girl has sexuality problems and that there are such scenes before the audition. I did not feel any hesitation, as I was concentrating on trying to understand why she was put into that situation. It is actor's job to use all of what I have to express something, so I treated the nudity as a tool. In fact, natural body is the most beautiful element of human beings. In that moment, Chieko had nothing else. It was her most aggressive, passionate and beautiful scene.

I think Chieko was feeling that she had to go that extreme just to hold the man back. She did not have any way to communicate with him, and she could not think of anything else. But that is not just because she cannot hear or speak. Even though you can speak the language perfectly, it is not possible to understand each other perfectly."

Communication with the Director, in Babel style

Communication, or the lack of it, is the central theme of the film, just as the title indicates. In the filming process, communication with the non-Japanese-speaking director was her theme as well. In this quite international film, how did the Director come up with the setting of Tokyo part, and how did she learn to communicate in such as situation?

"Several years ago when the Director visited Japan and was on tram in Hakone Mountain, he met a hearing-impaired couple. He felt their conversation in sign language looked very beautiful, and then he had a sexual dream about a hearing-impaired girl. So when he started to make a film about the communication, he thought of hearing-impaired and sign language, and of filming it in Japan. I didn't hear any further how he wanted to depict Japan or hearing-impaired, but you can see it in his film.

At the filming, the Director talked to me in sign language, so my concentration did not get interrupted. I talked back to him in sign language as well, then an interpreter translated it into Japanese, then another interpreter translated it into English.

My sign language is not perfect, just enough to play the part and communicate with hearing-impaired cast members. I learned it in school for about a year, and spent time with classmates, went out together or played volleyball. I learned from a teacher, read books, watched videos and a movie about hearing impaired people. But living with the sign language classmates was the most important process. They cherished their other senses, such as vision, smell, or touch. They know more important things than talking. I learned a lot from them.

The one-year audition process was like a rehearsal as well, but we did not talk directly about how Chieko is like. I came up with my idea and questions, brought them to the Director, and then he made adjustments here and there. He would not go into filming until Chieko character in my mind and his mind perfectly match together. I understood he trusted me and I trusted him. He is so talented and knew that there are more important things than language in life.

I have watched all of his past films such as '21 Grams' and 'Amores Perros' and I understood what he wanted to do. The year-long audition process taught me what he wanted, so that one year time was an important period for me to build the trusting relationship with the Director."

Wanted attention - now she gets it

So how did she come into life of acting?

"I have liked to act since I was a very young child. I have two older brothers and my mother's attention was always on them because they were naughty. So I sometimes acted crying to draw her attention. I guess that was the starting point.

I was scouted on the street to become a model at first. But I did not want to do modeling, then they wanted me to do music but I didn't want to. I wanted to do movies, nothing else. Then there were some other things in between and finally could do a movie at 15 years old for the first time. I did not formally learn acting in theater group or from a coach. I learned on the job."

Calm even in the hype

So here we are, all of a sudden, she is now at the center of attention, not only by her mother but also by so many people in the world, with several awards already under her belt. How does she deal with the hype, and what's next now?

"I have never won any awards in Japan, and I am so delighted at all these awards in the U.S. But when the people praise me, I feel responsibility to do more after this. I am quite down to earth about the whole thing.

Now that such an opportunity is given, I am happy to work on any type of roles or with any director internationally. Not only in Hollywood, but also in Europe or anywhere, if a good role is offered, I would love to do and I will do it with a responsibility.

I have always liked Sean Penn and Daniel Day Lewis, so I hope to have a chance to work with them. At this time, I will start working on a love story movie in Japan from January. After that, I have received several scripts but have not decided which to do. I have more offers from the U.S. than from Japan."