KEN WATANABE: ‘Sexy? No, I’m not. I’m just normal.’

The Chairman in the Steven Spielberg production of Memoirs of a Geisha talks about acting, cooking, working in Hollywood but, please, not about being sexy (even if People mag chose him as One of the Sexy Men Alive)

Do you think you’re sexy?

"I don’t think so."

Are you married?

"Why not?"

How would you describe yourself?

"Normal."

Those trivia questions spiced up Conversations’ one-on-one with Japanese actor Ken Watanabe during the press junket in November last year for Columbia Pictures’ Memoirs of a Geisha (based upon Arthur Golden’s 1997 best-seller), produced by Steven Spielberg, at a function room of Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In the first Hollywood movie topbilling Asian actors in main characters (including Gong Li as Hatsumomo, Michelle Yeoh as Mameha and Ziyi Zhang as Sayuri), Ken plays The Chairman in his third Hollywood outing, following The Last Samurai (2004, with Tom Cruise) where his performance as the warrior Kasumoto earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and Batman Begins (2005, as the immortal criminal genius Ra Al Ghul).

Ken came to the interview with an interpreter. He speaks English, all right, but haltingly, as if struggling with every word that tumbled out of his mouth. But in the Geisha movie, Ken as The Chairman delivers his English lines (with Japanese accent) with ease, as if he has been speaking no other language in his life.

From an American Express ad (done autograph style) I had chanced upon before I interviewed Ken, I learned these vital pieces of information about him:

• He likes warm and cool jazz,

• His favorite retreat is his home,

• His "wildest dream" is to find happiness in his everyday life,

• His alarm clock is his child’s voice,

• His first job was as a dog walker (and cleaner of the stairs in his home),

• He reads adventure novels, and

• His perfect day consists of "searching for something I cannot reach."

Know more about Ken in the following free-flowing Conversation:

What can you say about the status of Asian actors in Hollywood?

"I thought I didn’t have so much patience to work in a foreign country. You know, there’s the language barrier, and the differences in customs and culture. But after doing The Last Samurai, I found out that I could. I realized that language is not important. As an actor, to get the feeling is the most important thing and to make (every scene) a most beautiful moment. Step by step, day by day, I became comfortable working in a foreign country."

Being Japanese, have you had the pleasure of a geisha’s company?

"Now, there’s a little bit of change in society in my country but the geisha is still very much a part of Japanese culture. I love them. Sometimes, I am invited to a teahouse. Yes, I have had the pleasure of a geisha’s company. You know, a beautiful night with good dinner, good service, good conversation, beautiful music and beautiful dancing."

How was it working with Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang (who were also at the Geisha junket, but not Gong Li)?

"They are very powerful actresses. We took time to discuss before shooting – lots of discussions about the different customs and cultures... some kind of giving suggestions, you know. They really, really understood and felt how to be Japanese. Everyone knows that Ziyi is so beautiful and slender...a beautiful actress. And she also has a great power, a great performance in this movie."

And how was she off camera?

"Oh, I noticed that she had a great stomach. When not acting before the camera, she was always eating and eating. And she was wearing a kimono! It was difficult to eat and eat when you’re wearing a kimono, that’s why I say she had a great stomach."

I read somewhere that you cook and that when you do, you have condiments ordered specially from Japan.

"Yes, I cook. I cook four or five times a week, breakfast or sometimes dinner or something. Lots of times, I invite them on weekends to have dinner at my house. First time, I cooked Chinese food for Michelle and Gong Li. They enjoyed the food and they asked for the recipe."

You are health-conscious, I heard.

"Yes, I am. I had a heart ailment 17 years ago so I have to control my health. But sometimes, I still take junk food. I always ask my body, ‘What do you want? Meat or whatever?’ I always give my body what it wants."

If it was hard for Michelle and Ziyi to be in kimonos, how did you feel in your costume?

"My costume was very tight, designed like the 1930s suit."

What do you consider your most memorable moment in the movie?

"There are many. One of them is my first meeting with Sayuri. She was emotional. That meeting was supposed to change her whole life. I asked Rob, ‘How can I do that?’ Rob told me, ‘You have to feel like the Chairman. He’s generous, with a sense of humor.’ So I tried not to act but just to be normal, to be natural."

It’s an epic movie. Was it hard to shoot?

"You know, shooting was difficult. Whole day and whole night in hot springs. Difficult! Worst of my experience was taking the bus, all of us together, for six hours, whole night. It was horrible! Hollywood style, you know. But I had to keep myself under control."

What do you consider your home, Japan or the United States?

"I have to feel at home and to feel comfortable wherever I am. Anywhere I go, even to the shooting, I always bring my exercise machine."

Could you tell me something about your childhood?

"I grew up in a small place in the countryside. I was a very natural boy. I studied in a trumpet school. My dream was to be a trumpet player but I realized that I didn’t have the talent for it so I went to a drama school for two years and after that I joined a theater company."

What did your parents do?

"They were teachers. They taught the Japanese language and painting. My parents didn’t worry about what I wanted to be in the future. I wanted to be in theater and they told me, ‘Go ahead.’"

You were chosen by People magazine as One of the Sexy Men Alive. Do you think you’re sexy?

"I don’t understand the meaning of sexy."

Many people think you are sexy.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I’m not sexy. No. Please, let’s not talk about it. I’m just normal, very normal."

Are you married?

"Why not?" (Vague answer)

Are you or aren’t you?

(Emphatic) "No, I’m not. But I have two children. One of them is a model; she went to college in New York."

Are your daughters’ mom Japanese?

"Yes, she is."

How would you describe Ken Watanabe in one word?

"Difficult question. Normal, I guess."

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