"Letters from Iwo Jima" world premiere held in Tokyo

Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima", the Japanese-language companion piece of "Flags of Our Fathers", was shown at the world premiere in Tokyo on November 15.  Along with Eastwood, the leading actor Ken Watanabe, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase and Kazunari Ninomiya appeared on stage to greet 6,500 audience.  See some photos here.  (Note that Ninomiya, who probably was the biggest target of 500 fans gathered outside of the venue, does not appear on any of the photos because he belongs to Johnny's Jimusho, just as in the case of Takuya Kimura.  I personally don't know how he looks like.)

Audience heartily applauded when Eastwood stated, "the film depicts how meaningless the war is.  I would like to dedicate this movie to the young people who participated in the war."  Watanabe said, "I hope you can shre the same agony, sarrow and a little bit of joy that we experienced while shooting the movie."

And as a sidenote, Shido Nakamura, who usually gets the second spot in the cast list, was not present, because he recently made a decision not to participate in any promotional events for the film, due to the series of scandals including drunk driving and divorce matter.

"Letters from Iwo Jima" is schedule to open in Japan on December 9, and in the U.S., Warner Bros. has just decided to move up the release date to December 20 in NY, LA and possibley SF, instead of previously announced February 9, 2007.  Variety reports that the purpose is to make it eligible for Oscar consideration.

Source:  Cinema Today, SANSPO, Nikkan Sports, Variety

<Addition 11/18>

A few more pictures from the press conference are here, of Clint Eastwood, Ken Watanabe and Tsuyoshi Ihara.

Source:  CinemaCafe

Comments

[aina]

the kanji is the same as Kazuya right? even a newscaster made the same mistake :p but he does deserves the credit. The official english site is out already with choc'full of pictures. http://iwojimathemovie.warnerbros.com/lettersofiwojima/framework/framework.html
Seems like Johnny's are loosening their rules a bit for the sake of the movie promotion.
btw, Ao No Hono is a movie & a very interesting one. Its not a typical teeny booper kind of material. Very intense thriller. Nino acted as a psychotic murderer.

[Michi]

Thanks aina, I just corrected his name. (I think I made the same mistake before... Sorry, I am not into J-drama and don't know his face, his name never seem to register in my brain... I will try to register it this time.)

I am wondering the same thing. The official site carries a small photo, but it is rather hard to see his real face... Maybe they will allow foreign press to reveal his face...? I would imagine the movie studio has more power than Johnny's in terms of the film's promotion, so it is interesting to see.

[aina]

sorry for double posting...
i'm looking forward to reading your views on the movie since it's releasing on Dec 9.
yes, the Johnny's no pictures policy sucks. I don't know how they will publicise the film without Nino's picture because from what i heard, the story revolves around his character(Saigo). There's even news of him impressing the Hollywood big wigs just from viewing of the unedited movie.

[aina]

its KAZUNARI Ninomiya. He's the 2nd lead in the movie. Check out the critically acclaim Ao no Hono. He sent it (along with his audition tape) to get the part in the movie. If you want to know more coverage on Clint & his views on Ninomiya just email me
nice website btw ^^