""Basic Tsukamoto"" "Well..." "I wasn't sure that I could use the name of a city, Tokyo as a theme..."Shinya Tsukamoto"" "but many people who don't live in Tokyo, still watch my films." "If you think about more, a sci-fi film... yes, some use the countryside as a backdrop, but that's not it... it should show a leading edge science environment contributing to the theme." "Super hi-rise buildings of which you can't even see the bottom can't find the sky, can't find earth that's my theme, if I sum it up" "Sci-fi itself is not a narrow genre" "I use a metropolis to comunicate terrors in the future to the audience so it's not exactly a closed issue regarding the theme easy to relate... also depicts a sci-fi image best to use a metropolitan setting as the theme." "Shinya Tsukamoto was born and raised in Tokyo" "Tokyo is his backyard... but, not because it was there, he pointed his camera" "and it was chosen to be the stage for his films." "We left the 20th century behind us and" "Tsukamoto actively seeks new creative ideas." "Now we go back to the beginning..." "It was with this film he made his breakthough..." ""Tetsuo"" ""Tetsuo", 1989 the film about a man whose body has been taken over by metal... and a mysterious man who stalks him and they fight" "A very small group of staff... and crew made this film." "Unexpectedly, it was accepted by film festivals overseas." ""1989 Rome Int'l Fantastic Film Festival"" "This is rare footage of that festival" "We asked a man who was at the festival he's an actor as well, this man..." ""Tokitoshi Shiota, Film Critic"" "It was June of 1 989, I attended the festival in Rome it was the first time for me" "European audiences liked the film..." "I watched along with them, thinking it got a good reception..." "I had no idea who the judges were or anything... ah... well, I never expected anything." "We just entered, that was it." "If we are lucky, if we get some mention about the film with encouraging words..." "The announcement said "Grand Prix, Tetsuo"" "When I heard it, I was shocked didn't think it was possible..." "I remember, I just lightly laughed" "Is this woman a staff member?" "Naturally, we did not have any money, so no one attended the festival" "There was no one from "Tetsuo" there... and no one was there to go on stage there was a long pause the audience started wondering... so, some Japanese woman who was there for something else received it for us." "From this point, Tsukamoto's film picked up momentum" "Well at that moment, I was speechless, then the impact of the call got to me." "Tsukamoto's 8mm movies from his teens." "Let's look into what he was making before "Tetsuo"." "The first film I made, I was 14." "I loved kaijyu (monster) films... during a school play, I realized the joy of acting." "so I merged the two, I am the actor and about the Kaijyu film..." "I tried to build a kaijyu, but it's too difficult... so there was "Genshi-San" (Mr. Caveman) by Shigeru Mizuki" "A caveman destroys buildings in the city... and returns it to a forest, and the story ends when he leaves to attack America's cities." "this one I could make without making a Kaijyu and a friend could act as a caveman... so that was my first 8mm film." "People say a writer's first film contains everything... in this film, destroying the city and returning it back to nature, was the theme that is the same today..." "it was there in the first film" "It all started here... after that..." "I made "Kyodai Gokiburi Monogatari" when I was in jr. high and high school and I made another film with friends when I was a freshman in high school a film called "Tsubasa (Wings)" and" "this is one of my favorite films it was accepted in the "Nihon wo kiroku suru eizo" film festival my friend Ohyama and myself, two boys... the film is about just wanting to fly." "After this time, I watched Japanese films at Namiki-Za Theater, which is now gone." "I was influenced by many films and I next made..." ""Donten (Cloudy Sky)" the film's tone suddenly becomes darker it's a monochrome film" "It was based on a comic book by Yamagami's "Hikaru Kaze (Shiny Wind)" "Donten" 1976 well, being too young to think of getting permission from him, I made this film." "It's a story about two men, I was one of the actors, escaping a prison camp..." "Tamamushi, was playing the other man." "A toilet hole in the ground is how we escape once home, he finds his brother came back from the war... he lost both arms and both legs, that was the story." "I made this film when I was a Junior in high school and I made it at senior "Jigoku-machi Shoben Geshuku Nite Tondayo"" "this is my high school monumental achievement 8mm film..." "When I finished, it was 2 and half hours long, then I cut it down to 2 hours." "And I played that 2 hr. version... the audience was friends and family but they really liked the film... just they loved it, and were touched... the story is about the young artists who lived and died during and after the war" "I condensed many of my favorite artists into one artist and made the story... about his honest life... how he lived and died, his devotion to painting... and he dies that's the story of this film..." "I was influenced by Kurosawa's films at that time..." "I see "lkiru" and "Dodesukaden" in this film, that's objectively speaking... so this is my teenage achievement, that was the peak... after that, in college, I made "Shin-Tsubasa" a remake of "Tsubasa"" ""Hasu no Hana tobe"..." ""Shin-Tsubasa"" "I got stage actors involved... until this film, we played every character, including adults roles the adults played adults for first time." "We were excited." "These two films I made in college..." ""Hasu no Hana tobe"" "were my least favorite films." "in this 8 mm film making era." "At that time I'd fallen into a dark hole." "After my 8 mm film making, I didn't make a film for 6 or 7 years... until "Futsu Size no Kaijyu" and "Denchu Kozo no Boken"" ""TV spot produced by Tsukamoto"" ""Swich On"" ""Input sound"" ""Play sample"" "I was a TV commercial director until 25 or 26, after I finished college." "As long as you could see my commercials on TV, my parents were happy... my parents got worried when I started shooting 8 mm films..." "I'd quit as a director of TV commercials by that time." "No one was happy watching me make films, I looked selfish... not knowing if something would break or not for me." ""Denchu Kozo no Boken"" " Live Stage" "I was 26 years old at that time, 1 986" "I established "Kaijyu Theater" in Takata no Baba, today my company has the same name." ""Kai" the sea "Jyu" beast... we built a theater to look like a "Kaijyu" and played in it." "I put so much effort into the set... that afterwards, I thought it was a waste to throw it away..." "That's right, I hadn't made 8 mm films lately... and why not make "Denchu Kozo..." as an 8 mm film." "And that was it." ""Futsu Size no Kaijin" He was away from making films for a long time... he makes "Futsu Size no Kaijin" as his return to film making... this film is the original form of his later creation of "Tetsuo"" "after he finished this film, he moved right away to his next film... this film" ""Denchu Kozo no Boken"" ""Denchu Kozo no Boken"" "a boy who has an electric pole grow on his back who saves the world jumping between time and space an action adventure with this film, Tsukamoto challenges new expression techniques." "Until now I was making films focus on the story... almost like a stage, one scene with one cut, a pretty still... film like that... from "Denchu Kozo..." many cuts on a scene... the audience can enjoy the same experience with the film, like riding a roller coaster." "Pia Film Festival 1988, announcing Grand Prix" "The Festival producer, Hiroshi Yanai will announce it 1988 Grand Prix" "the entry number, 21, film title "Denchu Kozo no Boken"" "What, it's me!" "Please come to the stage, Mr. Tsukamoto." "I always thought no one out there was accepting my work... how unlucky I am..." "that's how I felt for a long time with Denchu's Grand Prix, a spotlight was on me, on my work... and the following year, "Testuo" received Grand Prix again... these two grand prix gave me appproval to keep making films" "people also accepted me as a filmmaker like a license to be a filmmaker..." "I felt comfortable to be a filmmaker for first time my parents were quiet too." ""Tetsuo"" ""Tetsuo" opened in a small theater called Musashino Hall in Nakano it was very successful at that theater... a trade magazine reported it as at 1 20% of its capacity... it was only shown at night, 9PM one showing, for 3 months" "if we showed it in the daytime, I am sure the film would've closed much sooner" "I wanted the film to play as long as possible..." "I wanted to see "Tetsuo" listed in the film section of the information magazines as long as possible, and give "Tetsuo" a chance sure, Rome grand prix helped it become a hit film in the market" "I believe so,...then I was asked to do "Hiruko"..." ""Hiruko"" "A film about boys trying to hunt a goblin... it was his first involvement with a major studio directing a film" "it's not an independent film... many treat it as different from other Tsukamoto films his rememberance of the film." ""Hiruko", I moved away from the city completely" "It's based on Morohoshi's story..." "I wanted to be in the city, the goblin living in the narrow spaces in the city... between the buildings... but" "I don't know, but I moved myself away from all that... and started to drift to a countryside setting, boys hunting a goblin..." "In my filmmaking, I did, and will do everything, including budgeting" "Making "Hiruko", I didn't know anything about the budget" "I was like a hired creative guy not even I knew about the scheduling" "I was in the dark..." "I was just doing... the creative part only..." "a young creative kid, like" "I made storyboards of all the scenes..." "I gave that to the assistant director and to the set designer so I communicated well with those drawings it was a tough set, but I think what I wanted is in the film." "1993, Tokyo." "After "Tetsuo", Tsukamoto was planning multiple film projects at same time..." ""Gotanda, Tokyo"" "After completion of "Hiruko" he entered into a production... which he was planning for long time, and it finally came alive." ""Tetsuo II:" "The Body Hammer"" "A totally new look from "Tetsuo", a sci-fi action film it was a much larger scale film and it took a long time to complete it." "One year..., actually a 10 month shoot well... we shot a lot, kept shooting... the budget ran out, so the crew had to find paid work on days off" "we shot over and over, and finally we wrapped it in the 1 0th month and then, the post." "Again took a long time... doing it over, once completed picture again, like that..." "The staff for "Tetsuo ll" were all amateurs who did not have much experience some did work on "Hiruko" so they had some experience under the pro staff, they learned so we got some experienced staff on the "Tetsuo ll" set, that was lucky" ""Seven Samurai", main staff for Tsukamoto's filmmaking." "3rd from right, Dir." "Tsukamoto." "Looks fun!" "Doing many things over, for perfection" ""Tetsuo ll" received many awards from around the world." "Most were S pecial Ju ry Awards" "Coordinators overseas tell me that it's a great award..." "like an award between, Gold and Silver, like it ranks in 2nd place... but I think, it's not 1 st, 2nd or 3rd... nothing like that, but you can't throw it out... it's a different film, thank you for making it." "I think that's Special Jury Awards." "I received many of those kind of awards." "When "Tetsuo" recived Grand Prix in Rome, I wasn't there to receive it..." "I missed the "Tetsuo" cheers, I wish I was there." "So I always wanted to make sure I would attend festivals with "Tetsuo ll"" "That year, I decided to visit festivals as much as I could in a large theater filled with foreigners watching my film first, I was very happy about that... also, I found more reasons to attend festivals after attending many that year" "firstly, the awards... are able to be used as a marketing tool for the Japanese release and I met many directors I admire and whose work I love that is a big one, a big reason to go to festivals" "so, happy, marketing tool, and meeting people you admire..." "Gaspar Noe, who is still a good friend of mine director of "Carne"... lately he made "Alex"" "he is a down to earth, nice guy who loves to meet people he ended up inviting me to go along to Alexandro Jodorowsky's home we had pizza at his home." "I expanded my horizon attending these international film festivals all at once that year. 1 992." "Peking... forget old times" "I wanted to visit mainland China" "Surprisingly this film was the first time..." "Kaizo Hayashi's "Waga jinsei saiaku no toki" a serious drama lately adapted to TV as well..." "Mr. Hayashi was planning to make the first of that series..." "I was just so happy to be called..." "When he called, I just accepted..." ""Waga jinsei saiaku no toki" 1 993 the role was a hit man, I told him I really wanted that role." "it was my first time in film, I was very nervous... it was a great experience..." "A Nanbu 1 4 Nen model pistol... the hit man uses, the director said" "I told him, I will carry a Nanbu 14 all the time with me for practice and acted it out." "For my own films, I take time to shoot each scene" "I get going in a scene, then need to set up for next..." "I lose that feeling, momentum... up and down... makes me tired but in his film, it was fast and also the cameraman was a fast shooter too when I got in the role of a hit-man" "I could stay in that mode while they shot they shot from all different angles, fast the speed helped me stay in the same level and it helped me act better, I think the set was speedy, and kept my tension high, then it was over..." "It was an experience." ""Tokyo Fist"" "a painful triangle relationship through boxing... emphasizes the theme of city and body... it's the first time Tsukamoto asked someone else to write it." ""Tokyo Fist"... in the beginning" "I wanted a documentary look..." "I wanted the film to have that feel to it... it looks like it, I think..." "it's not a documentary but... a story and looks like one, like a real story... instead of me writing a detailed script, maybe someone can write one like a documentary" "Hisashi Saito, who continued to work with me later... had done it before... just like what I wanted for "Tokyo Fist"" "so I asked him." "Hisashi Saito, a director he makes films that..." ""Whatever" Hisashi Saito Dir." "calm and documentary type films two directors collaborating can become a difficult thing at the end, Tsukamoto ending up finishing his script let's take a look at the finished work." "What happened to it?" "It's a Sci-fi film... if you watch closely it went all over the place, but I wanted to keep tension" "I wanted to make a high tension film at the end, the film became more that way if I was the only writer, I'm sure it wouldn't have been like this without Saito's initial involvement, it would never have ended up like this" "the basic concept never changed." "I thought about a salaryman... who impulsively, starts to box at the gym, and the first half of the film depicts the activities of a few people at the gym and the second half, he's challenging on the mat" "a metaphor, the ring as the city... at the end, like in nature, a hawk flies down to the ring something like that, simple." "For some reason Saito drafted a love story..." "I was surprised when I read it." "I don't remember asking for a love story but, I always wanted to do a story like that..." "I always wanted to make a love story with a bloody theme... at that time, I decided to mix that thought into this film." "Body of the city..." "Regain relations with the body of the city..." ""Shin-Kiba, Tokyo"" "Tsukamoto's experience on "Tokyo Fist"... will carry to future projects in many different ways." "Served as a juror at the Venice Int'l Film Festival, 1997" "Venice Int'l Film Festival..." "I never knew why I was chosen..." "I only made, "Tetsuo" and few others up to "Tokyo Fist"" "in 1997, I was a juror" "I was wondering that time why I was chosen... and when I got there there were more "Tetsuo" fans in Italy than I thought..." "My guess is that young members..." ""Head of Jury." "Jane Campion"" "of the festival were pulling for me" "Well, it is the Venice Int'l Film Fest..." "Dir." "Kurosawa put Japanese film on the world map with his grand prix it is the oldest film festival in the world" "I was so honored to be chosen, I was happy to accept it... that year, Dir." "Kitano's "Hanabi" was entered in the festival well..." "I was just hoping he'd take grand prix... with that hope... the jury were already indicating that "Hanabi" would be the one... all I could have done was... to try to bring back people who started to drift to other films" "of course, I didn't have that kind of power to single handedly push the film besides, the film was excellent." ""Bullet Balllet", a middle aged man looking for cause of his wife's suicide... young boys who rely only on violence and become involved because of the pistol..." "Tsukamoto had not made a new film in the last 4 years... and this theme had been waiting..." ""Nishikubo, Tokyo"" "he was drawn to... the theme of death." "Until 1995, "Tetsuo", "Hiruko", "Tetsuo II" and "Tokyo Fist", it was smooth it took some time to announce "Bullet Ballet", it took a long time." "I don't know why... it was not intentionally done this way... until I looked back now, I didn't notice after "Tokyo Fist"..." "I felt good about the film "Tokyo Fist"" "I wanted to continue making films at the same budget level... a small budget, to me maybe a mid-range budget film, but tight..." "I wanted use that momentum to go to my next film... a tight film about a gun, a pistol..." "I don't know why it took so long..." "I just couldn't put a tight story together... like "Tetsuo ll", after I finished the film" "I felt it's not right, not complete, I even struck the first print... without finding the answer, time was passing by... for the record, there is one complete print that was made in 1 998" "also there was a world premier at the Venice int'l Film Fest." "so as far as I am concerned, the film was made in 1 998." "When I saw the first screening after it was finished" "I knew I had to do something on "Bullet Ballet"." "That's my bad habit... after I saw the film, I felt it's not complete but yet, maybe completed..." "maybe not enough of a raw feel... maybe it needed more, this is a film not a book..." "I felt like the film needed a more raw feel... raw, but... somehow at the same time able to depict today's era..." "I think..." "In the city, reality and a raw feel, that's what I wanted to catch..." "I want to dive into the reality part of it" "In 1998, after "Bullet Ballet"" "Tsukamoto joined with Dir." "Saito..." ""Sunday Drive" Dir." "Hisashi Saito they complete "Sunday Drive"" "Tsukamoto acts in a lead role and is a producer this is his first time producing other than his own films." ""Sunday Drive" was directed by Saito, who started with me on "Tokyo Fist"" "Saito asked me... to be in his short film..." "This short became a base for... when we did this short, it was fun and good... it was one of the shorts in the project called "One Piece" created by Dirs." "Suzuki and Yaguchi one cut, one scene is the short, and I had a great time making it with Saito... we shot it in one day..." "I then thought maybe we could make this 10 min. short... expand into a feature... so I asked Saito" "that's how it all started." "It's a Kaijyu Theater production well, I started first it, I had the responsibility of getting financing.." "that's all I did, find financing, nothing else." "my focus was on acting, not on the other duties of a producer" "I believe it was worth it." "Tsukamoto leaves Tokyo... and starts a major film production company." ""Gemini"" "Based on Rampo Edogawa's book twins raised in totally opposite environments the film depicts their unusual lives." "This film was a major studio release... did it remind you of "Hiruko"?" "The distributor is a major studio, the the same as did "Hiruko"... but, making this film was totally different than making "Hiruko"" ""Hiruko" really became a major film production but I was writer and director all other responsbilities were handled by someone else normally in my films, I do everything, involving myself in everything..." "In "Gemini", a professional staff and... ourselves, the independent filmmakers mixed and joined well" "Motoki, the lead, had an idea and wanted to do this film" "naturally he would be the lead..." "I like him, he is an excellent actor... so I knew then that I should get involved in this project also the film was based on Rampo Edogawa, I loved his work growing up.." "so I decided to do this..." "Now, when you have a professional actor like Motoki as the lead... his time will dictate shooting time, like 4 weeks for principal shooting... at that time, it's already different than independent films I am used to... normally I spend a much longer time putting production value into a film" "that time will allow me to wear many hats in the production with this tight schedule" "naturally, I can't do everthing..." "I had to bring in a professional staff so I had to decide what, and who I should bring to the set... who will be best to be in charge of each area what will end up on the screen" "I picked professionals whose work I admire that's how I managed to let go of some responsibilities" "Costume Design:" "Michiko Kitamura" "Tsuakmoto saw her work in a magazine and admired it." "Hair / Make-Up:" "Isao Tsuge" "He did great work hiding eye brows, which was required for the whole cast" "Art Director:" "Yohei Taneda" "He made realistic places that don't exist in this world." "with all these top level professionals" ""Gemini" was successfully delivering impactful images and fine details" "I told them everything I wanted to do in this film up front so everyone knew the base point, and I was welcome to leap from there" "I wanted to be able to leap..." "I think everyone added more to it" "Tsukamoto mixed his Kaijyu Theater staff into this... professional environment major and indie truly became one, and were ready to shoot" "I kept it as a production of Kaijyu Theater, our production... that gave the film an indie flavor." "TV Days:." "Play "Naoto Takenaka no kai"" "In the Years 2000 and 2001" "after Tsukamoto completed "Gemini" in the 20th century when the 21st century started... he was not directing a film" "instead he was involved in films this way" "I remember after "Gemin i".... in the year 2000... that year, I did not make a film... right, I was in many films that year" "Tsukamoto acted films 2000-2001 "Sakuya Yokai Den" "oboReRu Hito" "Duo" "Dead or Alive" "Mojyu vs. Isunboshi"" "I really like acting, so... so when the chance came to me..." "I wanted to do it, even if I had to scale back my film production it's that simple, I just wanted to act." ""Chloe"" "he acts in this film as..." ""Chloe" 2001 Dir." "Go Riju a young art collector who could not grow up," "Eisuke." "In "Chloe', I was fortunate to get this role... which gave me the opportunity to do what I always wanted to do." ""Ichi The Killer"" "In "Ichi The Killer"..." "2001 Dir." "Takashi Miike he controls a wimpy kid, Ichi from... behind the scenes, playing an old-man, Jijii." "When I act on someone else's set..." "I can only concentrate on acting..." "I really enjoy that and it's worth it to me." ""Travail"" ""Travail"..." "Asami, a pushy writer's wimpy husband 2001 Dir." "Kentaro Otani" "Kazuya, he plays." "I never even dreamed of such a nice role as "Travail" was..." "like heaven gave me this role without wishing for it..." "When I am in someone else's film, I never think director's thoughts occasionally people ask me about what I think I'd do if I were shooting..." "I never do, and if I did, the fun of the film, the fun of acting would be all gone..." "I am on my favorite director's set" "I am there to be affected by his directing, his way of doing things... every director is different" "we all make "films", the same medium but all different, so different..." "like almost working in a different field" "I will be more happy the more the director has his own way..." "I don't like a director who doesn't have that mode on his set... really, the more he has of that, the more I love to be involved... all the work shows when that happens..." "later when you see the finished work." "I believe so" "I try to do that when I shoot sometimes people may think I am a very picky director... but I am not." "I worry too much about others on the set... sometimes I press hard on my staff to make sure actors don't lose interest" "I become anxious on my set." "I learn so much working on other people's sets... it's OK to be relaxed and... do what you do at your pace..." "that was a good experience" "So I can do it too, I thought." "In theYear2003..." "Tsukamoto's next film started..." "Eroticism... sums up the theme to me, the word eroticism.." "I had this idea even before I made "Tetsuo"..." "Every year, in June, a rainy season comes... and I wanted to make this film... but when the rainy season was over, so was my desire to make the film... year after year a hydrangea reminded me... again and again I forgot about it after the rain" "I spent over 1 0 years like that..." "Tsukamoto leaps from violence... to eros, his pendulum was swinging to a new thing..." "I was excited about that... it is very erotic, but... it's a different kind of eros it's not like you get an erection" "I do understand... eros that gives you... an erection is alive... that alive energy will bring... an erection in Tsukamoto's case... the environment is death..." "that kind of eros of course, has its own edge... totally understood..." "Tsuakmoto's theme... violence, death..." "I am seeing his ultimate theme in this film." "Let's pass into the future..." "let's ask him about his future." "New World." "In largely... the city and the human body, until now that was the theme those were my films sometimes, iron... sometimes boxing, a pistol in "A Snake Of June"... the metal material... well boxing is not, but "Tetsuo, iron man", a pistol" "This time I did not use any props just bodies, that was "A Snake of June"... about the sexualty of the body... use that for "A Snake of June"..." "Future..." "I have so many films I want to make... really very many... when I list ones I've made... and ones I want to make, with possible years filled in it won't fit in my life time... so I am in the middle of sorting out what I should do first" "in the future, I have so many things I want to do... it's kind of embarrassing to tell you without completing it first... forgive me..." "I think "A Snake of June" completed one period of his filmmaking..." "I feel that... maybe... because in real life he just became a father to a child..." "I believe, Tsukamoto outside of film making... in his private life, he must be a good family man so, I think he may show a different side of himself in his future work... that's my guess..." "I am very interested in his future work" "I have to keep an eye on him." ""Yoyogi, Tokyo"" "From this, "Tetsuo" first cut scene...." "Shinya Tsukamoto, starts again." "Narrated by Mikako Ichikawa"