It's Saturday afternoon here in Tokyo. Last day of my favorite month, October. Trying to take a breather in between the huge work load that I have.

I finished the ADR on my "It's All Good" film. That was a lot of fun. Both my actors (Shogen & Stephanie) are so much fun to work with and both are eager to do what it takes to finish the film. What more can a filmmaker ask of his actors? The film is reaching the 90% completion point. Pretty soon I'll have some fantastic news to update here about the movie.

My horror short, "Feed Me" played at the Bay Area Film Event as part of their Halloween show in Oakland, California. Wish I could have attended, but it's kind of far, you know. Much thanks to Bob Johnson for booking it, despite its low-budget trappings.

Lazy October...

Fall, my favorite time of year, has finally descended on Tokyo. There was a fairly strong typhoon the other day, which caused pounding on my window all night and made my apartment building shake about like a bean in a maraca. The next day the roads were littered with brown and gold leaves, as if autumn had been dropped on us all at once. The upside to this is that after a typhoon the air is scrubbed clean, and the view of the city the day after was crisp and clear.

Well, I wouldn't call my life very exciting since the last blog entry. I've spent most of the time holed up at home writing a new script and fine-tuning the edit on my film "It's All Good." The edit is going well, but it's taking a lot longer than hoped. However, I have everything just about how I want it. After I get the FX shots in then comes the real fine-tuning. I'll be starting the ADR session on it within two-weeks. Can't wait! I love working with my actors Stephanie and Shogen.

I finished the first draft of a new film script entitled "The Blue House." It's a hard story to describe. It's about a young woman with a somewhat off-kilter relationship with the world and how she comes to terms with the whole of humanity. It didn't really occur to me, but I was told it's a love story, but not of the kind one thinks when hearing "love story." It's a love story between a woman and humankind.

Of course there is a science fiction element to the story. Wouldn't be me without it. I guess it's safe to say that I'm fairly bored by the limitations of the "real" world. Even so, my interest lies within the framework of the individual's relationship with the world. Despite my love of the unreal external and the true-to-life internal, I think it's possible to explore these inner workings of humanity within a science fiction setting without compromising the legitimacy of that exploration. "The Blue House" is the latest in a series of pieces I've written where I just let my sensibilities guide me along. Hard work, but enjoyable. The lead actress is a super woman with just the right sensibility to get into the pathos of the piece. Can't wait to shoot it.

This week some friends from the US west cost – Bob, Barrie, Butch, and Kevin – flew in to Japan. Barrie's been to Japan a bunch of times, but it's the first time for the others. I made the time to hook up with them and our first day saw a trip to Nakano and Akihabara. As you can no doubt surmise, these guys are into otaku stuff, although Butch is quick to separate himself from the anime scene.

We also put in a day at Toho Studios. I made a call and arranged for us to get in so they could fulfill a dream of walking around Japan's leading film studio. For me, going to Toho is no biggie anymore as I've been there over 200 times, so the best part was that my friend Shimizu took us around. Shimizu was an assistant director when I first met on the set of CROSS FIRE in 2000, and then umpteen times on the Godzilla sets as he was AD on all of the "Millennium Series" until FINAL WARS when he jumped ship and worked as AD for Shinji Higuchi on the film LORELEI. In fact, it was Shimizu who asked me to be in the opening scene in LORELEI.

Shimizu is one of the best ADs I've seen: First on set, last to leave; never a frown, always on top of things with a calm enthusiasm. His wife is an actress and she had a part in GMK and one of the Tezuka Godzilla films. Shimizu is also a kaiju fan, and often during shooting he would be tapped for hardcore info by the directors.

As I've been to Toho more times than I can recall going with first timers is fun. It's like rediscovering Christmas through the eyes of one's children. And Toho has changed so much over the past few years. I now try to work exclusively on my own film projects so don't visit sets as much as I used to. I think the last film set at Toho I was on was either THE GURDGE 2 or Hideo Nakatta's KAIDAN. But I have been there since the Big Pool was torn down... My memory is fuzzy in this way.

Anyway, so many new stages have been erected over the past four years. It's almost like a different place. My friends were lucky though, because Stage 1 and 2, built in the early 30s, are still standing. Shimizu gave the shocking news that they are earmarked for destruction next year. Everything has been shot in them, including the original Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, etc. Stage 1 was where I saw my first Godzilla shooting too. That was back in 1999 and was the final scene of "Godzilla Millennium" when the main actors were on the roof watching Godzilla fight Ogura. It was also the stage for the first day of shooting on GMK. My first experience with Studio 2 was a week during GMK for the underwater battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah. With the studio filled with smoke (to simulate the murkiness of water), everyone had to wear protective masks including myself. Unhealthy, but fun.

Shimizu was kind enough to drag out some old props for us. The day before Butch had been asking if we could see the Oxygen Destroyer from the 1954 Godzilla. I told him that that wouldn't happen. Well, it was nice to be proven wrong when Shimizu dragged it out of a locked closet. Later we were taken to another room with some leftover suits. I was astonished to see one of the GMK suits rotting away. Not one of the two full-sized suit, but the full sized, hand operated one. I remember the day this was brought on set. It was stunning looking! But now! Rubber is peeling away and some of its teeth are missing. But then again, GMK was shot 8 years ago!

Where does the time go?

Summer's Almost Gone...

The last two weeks have seen me taking it easy and catching up with things and people.

Caught the Paul Gauguin exhibit at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 2 weeks ago. That was enjoyable and the first time his masterpiece "Where do we come from? Who are we? And where are we going?" has been to Japan. Really invigorating stuff.

However, while Japanese museums are nice enough and regularly stocked with masterworks from around the globe, they are kind of annoying in some areas. For one, most paintings are kept behind glass. So, you get glare on everything. They also keep the art behind barriers. The moment you even get near one, security guards rush up to remind you of your perilous proximity to the art work. I even set an alarm off once for daring to get within 3 feet of a Picasso. Additionally, people going to exhibits in Japan are uniformly over-serious. Somber faces are the norm, as they scan over paintings like doctors in search of the cure for cancer. (Where is joy?) Well, Japan is kind of an uptight place and I guess that's never going to change. Still, I had a good time and I'm grateful that Japan is affluent enough that paintings such as this make their way here.

I wrote a new Fangoria piece the other day. It was for the film "God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand," directed by Shusuke Kaneko. The film has finally been picked up by Media Blasters in the West.

I met with Kaneko and we had coffee in Shimokita and both of us tried our best to remember shooting -- from four years ago! I actually had a blast on that set, especially on "cake day." This is a scene in the film where super model Reon Kadena is force fed cake that she vomits up just before having her head cut off. Check out this photo I took on the set. Pretty cool, no?

The next day I met up with Kaneko (again) and my friend Ryoko, who was the star of my film FEED ME. We went to a concert given by Stephanie (star of my new film, "It's All Good") at Shibuya Boxx. The show was jam packed with fans, but lucky for us, Steph's manager Tanaka got us VIP seats, where we sat, oddly enough, on tall silver swivel chairs. I think it was the first time I ever sat at a pop / rock show.

The concert was fantastic. Stephanie is such a dynamic singer and is happy to the point that you can't help but feel happy yourself. The show lasted two hours and my face hurt from smiling so much. Kaneko is kind of funny. He's not really the coolest guy when it comes to music, and seeing him pumping his hand in the air out of time with the music was hysterical. After the show some fans came up to Kaneko to tell him how much they loved "Pride," the film he directed that stars Stephanie. I wonder what they'll make of my Stephanie film... From there we went backstage and hung out with Steph.

Monday saw me over at the "Sophia" screening room in Akasaka (named after Sophia Coppola as she worked there during "Lost in Translation"). Kaneko had invited me to a screening of his latest film "Bakamono." It was a small showing held for the writer of the novel that the film is based on. The movie is a real departure for Kaneko. It's about a man who develops a drinking problem that destroys every relationship in his life. A powerful film and - I admit it - I cried several times! The good news is that the writer loved the adaptation (which was a relief for Kaneko since there had been some tension during preproduction over the script).

Wednesday night I went out with Kaneko, Yagi (Ultraman director), Ryoko and Stephanie for a wonderful dinner in Shibuya. Kaneko started complaining, calling the past week, "my week with Norman." (What can I say? I'm fun to hang out with!) I hadn't seen Yagi since shooting of "It's All Good," so it was nice to talk about the edit of the film and catch up with what he's doing. He's also friends with Ryoko, as they met on the set of FEED ME, and met again when Yagi was in England promoting an Ultraman DVD set last April. Stephanie is tons 'o' fun too. She's witty, bright, and always seems to have something kind to say no matter what the subject. As usual, Kaneko was drilling everyone on Japanese history, his pet subject. At those times I can just play dumb gaijin and zone out. Just a fun night all around.

This weekend will just see more of me staring at my film and trying to figure out the best shape into which to forge it.

Oh, and today I started a new screenplay...

"It's All Good" on FOX-TV

Fox-TV has a show in Japan called "Backstage Pass" that spotlights films in Japanese theaters, mainly Hollywood blockbusters. During the rehearsal and shooting of "It's All Good," some of the people at the show paid the set a visit to gather coverage for a piece they were doing on independent films and filmmakers in Japan.

The show ran this past week on TV in Japan and today they upped it to the web. Of course I'm really happy to have this run. But what I'm not happy about is that as the film is still in post-production the scenes shown from the actual film are incomplete. For example, the music is from my first film, The iDol, and not the film's actual score. You'll notice that the TV to the right of Stephanie has green marks on it. This is because a TV picture will be fit in later on. And the worst offender, the quick zoom in on Stephanie as she holds the alien parasite, which is a total place marker FX shot.

But what can you do? Just happy to get the word out!

Here's the link:

http://tinyurl.com/nkclkr

Enough Already!

I officially ended my work on VAMPIRE GIRL last night with the premiere of the English language subtitle version at Theater N in Shibuya.

But I get ahead of myself. The movie finally had its "normal" premiere (no subs) on 8/15/09. That day, I caught the morning screening in Shinjuku, which was given the send off by directors Nishimura and Tomomatsu, as well as actors Yukie Kawamura, Eri Otoguro, and Takumi Saito. Of course these are just the high profile people involved in the film, and in the audience were many of us who had worked on the film.

As my friends Yoko and Maki of the singing group Trippi's couldn't make the first screening, I arranged to meet them at Theater N in Shibuya for the next stage introduction by directors and actors. I guess this was my 300th time to see the film...

Afterward, the staff / cast went over to an "izakaya" to celebrate. Drinking, eating, laughing, story telling, silliness... It was the typical after screening party that I've come to enjoy. Takashi Shimizu of The Grudge fame was there, and we both fell pray to the demented (i.e. disturbed) ways of Sayako Nakoshi, who plays the dethroned wrist cut champion in VG. Shimizu fared better than I, as she drew blood from my thumb. Shimizu is also an actor in the film, playing a Chinese language teacher.

Following this the group moved to what the Japanese lovingly refer to as 二次会 or second party. "Machine Girl" director Iguchi waddled in with Aya Kiguchi, the star of his new Robo Geisha film, which I have yet to see, but probably will pass on. His films are too crass even for the likes of me. I spent most of the time talking actor technique with Shimizu, who I think is a phenomenal director and one of the funniest men on the face of the Earth. (Shimizu was supposed to be at the English subtitle screening last night but opted out to go to a hot spring with his family, which was probably a better deal for him. But he was kind enough to send Nishimura a rather elaborate note to the audience that included a message for me and my last film FEED ME.)

The following day (8/16) I went over to Imagica to catch a screening of Shimizu's new 3D film, "The Shock Labyrinth." The film was completed at 1pm that day, and screened for a small group at 6pm. Kind of cutting it close...? While I don't hate 3D and do enjoy it on occasion (like when seeing "Parasite" in the early 80s), I really don't think it much more than a gimmick. But, hell, if someone said they'd finance a 3D film of mine I'd jump on that in no time flat! Still, it was a decent film and Shimizu always has an interesting way to present his story elements. Fortunately for Shimizu, he was less hung over than I from the night before.

Anyway, last night went fine. I had a good time and could relate some of the challenges of putting the subs together, with Marc Walkow of the NY Asian Film Festival relating the impression the film had made on the non-Japanese audience when it had it's first screening in NY last month. Was it last month? Earlier this month? I could look it up on the web... too lazy.

My film "It's All Good" creeps closer to completion. I got the score last week from Kow Otani. As usual, he delivered something truly different. I can't say it's what I was expecting, but it works and adds depth to the entire film. Still so much to do...

Oh yeah... The photo here is me with one of Monami's (Vampire Girl) blood swords. Stupid, cheap digital cameras can't get the focus right on those things in low light...

Vampire Party

A fun thing connected to movie making is not the actual filmmaking process, which is mostly a direct path to hell, but the wrap parties. I'm a big fan of wrap parties. I've been to many in Japan, several Godzilla, Ju-On, and Death Note, among others, ones. It's always a good time and a chance to celebrate the monumental effort movie making entails.The other night I attended the final promotional party for "Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl." While not an official wrap party, it kind of turned out that way, with much of the audience being either staff or core fans. In fact, as the official end of the pre-promotional blitz, everyone was letting their hair down and just having the best time they could.

Taking place at the Ruido Live House in Shibuya, the evening began with Maki and Yoko of the group "Trippi's" singing "Pinky Love," one of their songs used in "Vampire Girl." I love this song so much. It's a kind of 60s style tribute tune that helps smooth over some of the violent aspects of the film. Both girls are totally cute, with an enjoyable, deadpan stage presence.

Following this directors Nishimura and Tomomatsu, Frankenstein actress Eri Otoguro, stunt director Tak Sugimoto, and others took the stage in an attempt to talk about the film. But with Nishimura basically talked out when it comes to the film, he was more interested in horsing around, relentlessly teasing Tomomatsu and some of the other staff.

This ended about 30 minutes later. Nishimura then called a few of us who worked on the film to the stage. As mentioned in a previous blog, I did the subtitles for the film. I got a good laugh tonight when pointing out that my contribution has little meaning in Japan. But the truth is, I busted my rear on those subtitles, and Nishimura was quick to mention that good subs can make or break a film abroad.

I was also happy that I finally got to put in some one-on-one time with the adorable Eri, who plays the 'evil' Frankenstein actress. She came tonight wearing a yukata, giving the party a pleasant traditional touch. Eri's a charming young woman and delivers a terrific performance in "Vampire Girl."

After this my friend Kai got up and wowed us with some pole dancing. While not a fan of sexually stimulated dance, I have to admit that Kai is quite good. A professional dancer as well as an actress, Kai appears in "Vampire Girl" as the leader of the ganguro clique. I'm embarrassed to say that because she wears so much make-up in the film I didn't know it was Kai until this evening. She's also in Noburo Iguchi's new "Robo Geisha" movie.

Somewhere near the end of Kai's performance, Nishimura climbed on stage and started calling some of us back on the stage for a turn on the pole. I was one of the first called upon.

Jumping onto the silver rod, I had to use what little strength I posses to pull myself up. Then, with the even less coordination I have, I did my best to spin around a couple of times, finally falling down totally exhausted. I tell you, it's not as easy as it looks! Although this was about the last thing expected to do this evening, I'm happy that I gave it a whirl.

Get it...? "Gave it a whirl." You know, pole dancing... spinning around... whirl...? Ah, forget it!

As the evening was wearing to an end, Nishimura and I demanded that Trippi's get back on stage and sing their theme song to "Vampire Girl" once more. Nishimura set a chair right in front of the stage, while I climbed to the side in front of Yoko. And the crowd went wild!

Also at the party was Jiro Kaneko, writer of the Japanese script for my film, "The iDol," who came with Benny, one of the stars of Nishimura's 2008 film, "Tokyo Gore Police." Benny's a good guy and a decent actor. I hope I can find a part for him some day in one of my films. In addition, I got to hang out with Remi Otsuka and Miharu Yamazaki, my buddies at Excellent Films, the mini-Frankenstein trio from "Vampire Girl," and Rei and Yumemi Kato two actress. Yumemi (in red beside me) is a Robo Geisha in the film "Robo Geisha."

An hour later the inner core of the night went to a small standing bar around the corner where we continued to while away the evening, drinking, toasting and singing theme songs to 60s anime. Only in Japan.

Here's a truncated version of Maki and Yoko's song. Not sure why the person who upped this cut it up in this way... Moron!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=M1OD1hPRkSI

The hot icky days of summer are back and burning up the Tokyo streets – and I totally can't stand it!

On the 22nd, Japan was treated to a solar eclipse. The day was totally overcast, so everyone was saying it'd be impossible to see. However, at around 11:10am, I decided to take a peak outside anyway. Wouldn't you know it, blazing through the haze was the sun with the moon laying over it causing it to look something like a flying Pacman. Not a full eclipse, but at 70%, it was a decent one nonetheless.

Work has been going well. I finished a job writing the English version of a Japanese script currently in pre-production. I had less than ten-days to complete the entire thing, which meant translation, writing, and formatting into standard "Hollywood" script style. Unfortunately, the subject matter wasn't anything I'm so into, it being female erotica based on a novel by a well-known Japanese writer. But it was fun and with each script under my belt I feel I'm a better writer for it.

Had a fun night last Friday. Was invited to a Fox-TV Backstage Pass party in Roppongi by Ako, who is one of the Backstage Pass' "Samurai Divas" and also an actress in my new film. The party turned out to not only be a lot of fun, with lots of free Corona (the president of Corona was there), but I got to meet a lot of cool people. I like meeting cool people.

Probably the most fun was hanging out with Honoka, who stars in the upcoming film "Looking for Anne." Honoka is the daughter of Takaaki Ishibashi, one of the most popular comedians in Japan. Despite being just 19, Honoka is remarkably well-spoken and easy going. I hope to work with her one day.

Did a screening of my film FEED ME at the Shibuya club / bar / art space Pink Cow the other night. It went a lot better than I expected. My lowest budget film, I don't have a lot of confidence in it. But the screening was a big surprise. People laughed through the opening, got caught off balance when the tone shifts, were tense during the final scene and jumped at the film's "shock ending." Yeah... I was happy. All those endless hours of work paid off, at least for this screening!

I also participated in a promotional talk show at the Asagaya Loft A for the film "Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl." I joined directors Nishimura and Tomomatsu, also actor Jiji Bu and Yubari Film Festival's Tokitoshi Shiota. I had mixed feelings about the talk show as everyone was rather drunk on stage. What could I do? I started pounding away the tequila! Rock and roll, baby!

Oh yeah... and my documentary "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size" screened at Fantasia on 26 Sunday. I really wanted to go, but the show didn't have the budget to fly me over this time. I'm still waiting to hear how it went!

This and That...

As usual, been up to various things... Last Monday I went to see Stephanie, star of my latest film, sing at Shibuya Eggman. Her show was fantastic. Stephanie has so much positive energy and enthusiasm, and you can see how much she loves singing that one can't help but smile when she's performing. Not only that, but she has one of the most amazing voices. With a five-octave range, I thought she was going to shatter the lenses of my glasses.

For her encore song she performed the Michael Jackson song "Ben," which is one of my favorite songs of his if only because it is, oddly enough, an ode to a rat. A major Jackson fan, Stephanie had prepared the song before the singer's untimely death. Because of her unbelievable range, Stephanie hit every note without straining, rendering out a fantastic version of the song.

I hung out after the show with Stephanie and her mom and dad. That was fun. It was my first time to meet her parents, who turned out to be really down to earth (but I wasn't that surprised since Stephanie is as well). All in all, it was a fantastic, music filled night.

The weekend before I traveled up to Nagano with my friend Mike and his buddies. That was both fun and frustrating at the same time. For one, the organization was awful. First they told me to meet them at 1pm at Akabane where I'd get picked up. Then at 11am they called to say make it noon. I got there at noon, but they didn't show up until 2pm.

It took a good 4 hours to get to Keisuke's home. Keisuke is a friend of Mike's from LA who is now back in Japan and a singer with a rock group. He came with two of his friends.

First order was to check into his parent's house. A big home, as big as any you'd see in the US, which just goes to prove that the image of small homes in Japan is really limited to the urban areas. From there were went over to a "Firefly festival" going in the center of town. Lots of people, lots of stands... It's been a while since I was at one of these "matsuris." The stress of the drive behind me, I was able to enjoy the totally Japanese atmosphere.

The main event was a field filled with fireflies. That was nice to see. I grew up with fireflies back in NY. Unfortunately, you'd get these morons who would try to take a photo with their flash completely blinding everyone around.

The next day we went home, but first stopped by some large lake in the area that had some of the clearest water I've ever seen in Japan. My favorite thing was this insanely huge, tacky boat made up like a swan. Only in Japan.

This past week was given over to my Fangoria duties. I completed my interviews for the film "Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl." I did a duo interview with directors Nishimura and Tomomatsu. I've got a long history with both of them, as I've interviewed both on several occasions and have been an actor in 2 of Tomomatsu's films ("Stacy" and "Zombie Self-Defense Force") and was a glorified extra in Nishimura's "Tokyo Gore Police."

We hung out at the offices of Excellent Films (Vampire Girl's production office) and delved into the back story of how the film came about, the production, the actors, etc etc. The usual for me when doing this job. The unusual thing was that Nishimura brought a bunch of beer and we were drinking throughout. I guess I can no longer say that I don't drink on the job.

Yesterday I took a long bus ride down to the lower tip of Chiba to the town of Tateyama to check in on the production of "The Shock Labyrinth." The film is being directed by "The Grudge" director Takashi Shimizu. This makes the 5th production of his I've visited. His sets are always fun. They are very well organized and are always minus the hectic pace normally found on Japanese productions. I don't know how he does it.

The film is being shot in 3D and it's the first time I've been able to watch such a film in production. The camera was really small and basically just two small night vision like goggles strapped together. There was a large monitor on the set that displayed the 3D image. Shimizu tossed me a pair of 3D glasses and sat me next to him so I could get the full impact of the 3D image. The monitor was a typical thin LCD yet when looking at it you felt that it went back much further. That was kind of cool to stare into. I enjoyed watching how they would dress the set in order to enhance the 3D feeling.

Another fun thing about the set was that I could see Ai Maeda again, who is one of the first actors I'd interviewed when I started this job. She was the star of "Gamera 3," which shot back in 1998 (or was it 99? Can't recall offhand). I've hung out with Ai on a number of occasions since then including going out for dinner with her and her sister Aki following the world premiere of "Battle Royale 2." Still, it was 4 years since I saw her last. One of the interesting stories I have about Ai is how when I met her on Gamera she couldn't speak a lick of English. After the production she went to Canada for a year. I met her after that on the set of the Godzilla film "GMK" and she was suddenly fluent in English, putting my Japanese to shame! I guess it's true when they say you have to learn languages when you're young. I didn't learn my first Japanese word until I was almost 30!

Shimizu brought up the fact that I was in the SM bar scene in "Tokyo Gore Police," and told Ai, who had seen the film recently. Shimizu too has a small part in the film. Maybe I should be more careful about the films I appear in...

I'm writing a basic intro piece on the film and will upload it to the Fangoria website later next week.

It's All Good Shooting done! For real!

And I thought Shusuke's 5-shot shoot the other day was short! My shoot today was one of the shortest shoots I've ever been involved with. Or maybe it's because I got up at 5:30am that finishing at 2pm made it feel like a 1/2 day. In any case, I completed the shooting phase of my newest film and for that I'm grateful. A film is never done until the last shot is in the can.

Oh, wait... I still have ADR, effect creation, titles, music, sound effects, etc etc to deal with.

OK... Can't say it's done just yet.

Today's shoot was over at Tamachi Station, one stop from Shinagawa on the Yamanote Line. The crew today was relatively small, but enough to get the job done. It was good to get back with Shu G and Ota, the DP and Lighting Chief from such classics as 'Tokyo Gore Police' and the upcoming 'Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl. ' Also, Hiro and Sekiguchi, the video support team from McCray Inc. Also on hand were JR, co-producer of the film, Mike, our FXs Supervisor, Lindee, the film's Girl Friday (is this a sexist thing to write?), and Adi, who was coaching Ako during her rehearsals.

Today was deceptively simple, which should have set the warning bells off in my head, as nothing is every easy when making film. Today was just a static shot of a reporter reading the news in front of a green screen. Seems simple enough, no? But the delivery of such dialogue is important to come off as convincing and it was a lot of work for Ako, the actress in today's scene. Ako is a sinfully cute young woman who works as a reporter for the Japan Fox-TV show Backstage Pass. Check out Ako here:

Fox-Backstage-Pass-64-Pt1

While Ako's English is entirely fantastic, the dialogue was in a serious news style and not easy even for a native English speaker to deliver credibly. It took a long time to get each take just right and I found I was having to reach deep inside myself to find ways in which to relate the motivation and delivery style needed to bring each take to its finish.

Trust me, Ako was in a rough position. By being removed from an English-speaking nation I've been able to see that the subtle nuances that make up the English language and give it its character are not as apparent as they seem. For non-native speakers, no matter how good they are, English doesn't always make a lot of sense for the simple reason that English doesn't always make a lot of sense.

What I mean to say is, Ako had her work cut out for her! But with concentration and commitment, we got everything in the can by shoot's end, and I really have nothing but praise for Ako taking this on. お疲れさまでした、あこ様！

Later on Ota, my lighting director, said he had just shot a film (he's a director too) and he appeared as a newscaster in his newest film. He said it took him on average 20 takes just to get each line – and this was in his native Japanese!

But I love challenging moments such as this, where things are not going smooth and the pressure is on me to bring everything together. These are the times where you earn the respect of your staff, or lose it. Anyone can do the easy shots. Unfortunately, when the film is done, no one watching will ever know that this was the toughest scene of all to capture. But that's the cross filmmakers everywhere have to bear.

We wrapped on time and all of us retired to a fantastic pizzeria down the block where we laughed over the scene and the difficulty in getting it done. We could laugh because we did it. Had we not, it would have been a lot of long faces. Thanks Ako! Thanks crew! We rock!