"English subtitles by StayPuft" "On the set of BATTLE ROYALE" "Director Kinji Fukasaku turns 70 years old." "Battle Royale is the 60th film Fukasaku has directed." "OK, one more time." "Kick the second chair over there, to the left of the window." "Tsukamoto, look a bit more surprised," "because he's aiming the gun at you." "There was no tension the second time." "Should we shoot the second part?" "The second part is exactly the same, as the character's reaction." "If the second part comes in between can we get the cut?" "Is there already a difference?" "It's about the character's reaction, not about the chair." "It's got to be snappy... we see the commotion and crash, bang... otherwise the cut is wrong." "Wait a second..." "OK, once more!" "Here you show no reaction." "Only on the other side." "Please show me a reaction." "OK, from here." "42 ninth-graders must fight to the death in BATTLE ROYALE." "Cut!" "Put out the fire!" "Over there are my classmates." "I'm in a film with Takeshi Kitano directed by Fukasaku." "Is everything OK?" "Sorry... everything's fine." "Watch out for your elbow..." "Tatsuya Fujiwara as Shuya Nanahara" "What are you doing?" "!" "The BATTLE part means that we're fighting each other." "Like the title says." "But what does the ROYALE mean?" "How should the audience understand that at first?" "How come you have so many wounds?" "I won the Battle Royale." "The winner is a girl?" "You all know the BR-Law?" "Ai Iwamura as last year's winner" "We killed our classmates, until only I survived." "Today you will begin killing each other." "Until only one of you survives." "There are no rules." "Don't whisper, you piece of shit!" "Aki Maeda as Noriko Nakagawa" "I used to be crazy about horror." "Killing each other, it's really horrible." "How was it when you turned 15?" "Oh well..." "I've forgotten." "That was over 50 years ago." "Right after the war?" "even before that." "Excuse me." "Yes, after war." "What?" "No, nothing." "Hello, everyone in Class 9-B from the Shiroiwa school!" "You are the lucky class chosen for this year's Battle Royale!" "Congratulations!" "You are on a deserted island that looks like this!" "Hachijou-kojima" "Was this island inhabited?" "Yes." "People wandered over here, but they left when there was a water shortage." "Now the goats that they left behind run wild." "That's not where he should be." "His position is farther up." "Ok, now move!" "Noriko is behind him." "Noriko falls down." "Fujiwara notices her, is surprised... now run!" "I can't really see where she fell." "Move Noriko's position 3 meters forward!" "Back, back. 2 meters is better!" "Noriko, please stay right there!" "Please fall again!" "Noriko, fall down right there!" "Is that place OK?" "Everybody listen!" "Please stop fighting!" "Please hear us out!" "We found a way out of this, if we all just meet here!" "We don't want to fight!" ""We are really your friends"..." "That sounded too much like normal conversation." ""We are really your friends!"" "Let's put our head together!" "That was too fast." "It's hard to understand you from this far away!" "We are really your friends!" "Even slower!" "Friends!" "More!" "Let's try to work together!" "That last part was too fast." "Give a quiet pause!" ""Don't be stupid!" "Don't kill!"" ""Let's try to survive together!"" "Here we are!" "Please come here!" "Come over here!" "It's getting too late." "We're finished for today." "Mr. Fukasaku seems young." "He just strolls up these high mountains." "You saw that?" "Ya." "I thought, is that him?" "He's not sitting under the monitor?" "Yukko always had Nanahara..." "No, Yumi!" ""Please stop!"" "As I read the script," "I thought, if there was a part, that fit me, it was Kiriyamas role." "In Mr. Fukasaku's film it was decided, how many people were going to be killed." "A day before the script was bought, Mr. Fukasaku suddenly wanted the main character to brutally kill a bunch of people." "I knew he was unpredictable and so I was annoyed." "Who should brutally kill people?" "Kiriyama?" "Yes." "He said:" ""I like the abnormal."" "I think Kiriyama is fascinated by murder." "and enjoys playing the game." "What did I do?" "!" "It wouldn't be right... to tell this story... without showing the violence..." "This opinion of censoring violence..." "I do not agree with such an opinion." "During the student's movement we had no weapons." "We were unarmed and helpless when the police hit us with clubs." "In those days, when the batons came out" "I thought, "Shit!" It was very unfortunate." "Why didn't we remember to bring weapons?" "It was very regrettable." "Why didn't we have batons?" ""Stop whispering!"" "Then throw the chalk." "Is that okay?" "But we get to choose it." "Is everybody ready?" "Yes." "Ready...!" "And action!" "This country is at an end!" "The reason is..." "Don't whisper!" "The chalk really hit me." "He said it was a prop, but it was real." "I could only smile bitterly." "An actor must be able to obey instructions well." "If the director says it's OK, it's OK." "An actor must only do, what he is required to do." "The mental part of acting is hard" "Precise concentration." "I act the way I am, because that's the way he wants it." "I didn't understand it at first." "But he said, the teacher has my image, so I try to play it as naturally as possible." "Sit down!" "I finally died." "But it was an honor for me, because Mr. Kitano killed me." "The island is about 10 square kilometers." "Fujiyoshi!" "Don't whisper!" "Move, out of the way..." "Sorry, it's against the rules for me to kill you." "Would I really play the game?" "I would probably kill myself." "Why?" "Because I wouldn't be able to kill anyone else." "Osamu Onishi as Yoji Kuramoto" "How should kids act?" "Nice to others and gut." "Also sensible." "Normal." "If his friend stepped on an ant, he should say:" ""Stop!" "That's a living being too."" "Still a little bit lower." "The branches are still swinging..." "too much movement." "Ya..." "I don't know..." "Very difficult... hard..." "Whether I'd do it?" "Some would flee, others would kill themselves." "I wouldn't kill myself." "I'd look for a way out." "Why did you do that?" "It's your fault." "You disrespected adults." "You'll be quiet now." "But don't forget:" "Life is a game." "So fight to survive and find out exactly what you're worth." "ACTION!" "A bit open!" "The eyes are good." "Ryo Nitta as Kyouichi Motobuchi ...Square minus 4 ac..." "You want to fight?" "You will see!" "I'm going to survive!" "The second face of the class representative." "Since the beginning of the year I continuously hurt myself." "First I got hit by a car." "And after everything healed," "I fell down the steps at the train station." "Shin Kusaka as Yoshio Akamatsu" "I don't have to roll down anymore..." "There should be a mat." "No, there's nothing." "So, we're rolling." "And..." "Action!" "Let's do it once more." "It could always be better." "Are you okay?" " Yes!" "Daredevil!" "No!" "Why are you all like that?" "!" "What did I do to you?" "Think about it, what did you all did this whole time?" "I always hated you." "I'm gonna kill you!" "You are all sad that your friends have died." "Heads high!" "The sound was deafening." "I didn't want to react, but it was so awful, going off repeatedly in my face." "That was not acting, that was real." "Yutaka Shimada as Yutaka Seto" "Mr. Fukasaku acts so young!" "He's still wide awake, and it's almost midnight!" "My grandmother is already asleep." "Attention!" "And action..." "Scornful sneer..." "You must exaggerate and then suddenly stop." "Otherwise you miss the effect." "Ya, like that..." "You thought, you good-for-nothing could join the class trip?" "That's a good start." "Basically okay." "Once more." "It really hurt after a while." "Kotohiki, is that you?" "Kotohiki, answer me!" "Takayo Mimura as Kayoko Kotohiki" "Let me take it." "Why are you following me?" "How embarrassing..." "Say it already!" "I can't do that..." "I have a crush on you." "I have a crush on Kotohiki." "The hanging scene..." "Tomomi Shimaki as Sakura Ogawa" "Yauomi Sano as Kazuhiko Yamamoto" "I don't want to play the game." "No, that that won't work!" "At the cut your left foot must come right here." "Yes, like that." "And take the bag at the right time." "That wasn't good." "I thought it was good." "I want to grab it faster." "Fujiwara surprised me." "Me too." "The rage he plays is very cool." "I thought, it was great to look good." "But he not only looks good, he's a good actor too." "He is really good." "I'm bad." "I don't think so." "I was bad. –When?" "When we were in the lighthouse." "I wasn't good there either." "You act very well, you have no worries acting." "Is this your first leading role?" "I've acted in too much theater." "If you only do theater, you tend to overact your gestures and facial expressions." "That's embarrassing." "When I only show a small reaction, the director says, I should show more, like Sugimura." "Then my reaction is exaggerated." "What should I do, if everyone says:" ""Her acting is so corny?"" "I always tell myself "So what" as I watch it." "Watching is easy, but acting is totally different." ""Look, she's making herself cry" or something." "Yesterday in a scene, it was really hard for me to cry." "Tears just flow for Kotohiki." "But for me... nothing." "I asked Ando, how he cries." "He said, he doesn't believe, that you can just "act"if you want to cry convincingly." "Really?" "Some people cry all day, all the time, while others suppress it." "But both types of people are still sad, right?" "So you don't express all of your sadness when you're alone." "That's what he said, and it really touched me." "Is this film just between us?" "But everyone should see it." "Really?" "Is that because the film is too gruesome?" "It would be awful, if schoolkids copied it, like, throwing a knife," "but everyone should see it." "You're saying the film is worth seeing?" "Yes?" "I like the film, because... besides the fighting... there's love... the core feelings humans can experience." "People should relate to the theme of harassment in the schools because they can imagine themselves as the victim." "It would be cool, if the film makes people look back and reflect on it." "We can fight each other," "or we can stop and work together." "I like that about the film." "To die... for the one you love, transcends age." "Even kids... can express love like that..." "wholeheartedly, right?" "Ya." "Even students can express mature love." "We love each other passionately!" "We have an ax, a knife, a gun, a sword, an icepick..." "Did you fall in love right away?" "No, I didn't." "Or, ya." "Yes, you did?" "Ya." "How long did it take?" "Are you now in love?" "Is that a serious question?" "My dream... is to lead a happy life." "I want to have a job that I enjoy, even if I don't make much money." "I want to concentrate more on basketball." "I should have gone to the championship, but right before the game" "I hurt my foot and I couldn't play in the final match." "That is too slow..." "too slow..." "Are you in love?" "–In love?" "That's my little secret." "Is it someone in the cast?" "I'm not interested in anybody here." "What a shame!" "Or maybe I'm kidding?" "Fall the right way, or we'll be shooting forever." "Good job." "It is now 5 o'clock..." "We often talk to each other about what we would all do, if we had to fight in this death match for real." "I would probably hide." "And shoot anyone!" "Anyone who got in the way." "That's mean." "That would be mean." "Anything to survive." "But that's definitely a way to do it." "I probably couldn't save anyone from being killed." "Not even a friend." "The "Battle" begins!" "I will avenge Nobu." "Instead of him..." "I'll have to protect you to the end." "Thank you, Nanahara." "That performance was lifeless, you two." "Too sentimental." "You shouldn't show any feelings at the end." "The audience doesn't feel that." "What should we do about the ship?" "Let it sink!" "The lead part that Tatsuya plays, is also a person, who is torn between justice and friendship and nothing can be done." "I think, in terms of violence..." "He's only hanging around." "He doesn't embody heroism, like in the novel." "Like a very naïve person he drags himself around against his own will in such a way and at the end, he asks himself, why he did it." "We do not find an answer." "We leave the question open, about what type of protagonist Nanahara is." "Are you OK?" " Ya." "Send Nakagawa over here!" "Take care of it yourself." "You'll begin on Mr. Noro's signal when we do the real take." "Don't use the big ones." "A Camera..." "B Camera... ready?" "Ready up there?" "Then let's go." "Mark!" "Everything's fine?" "Yes, everything's OK." "Are camera A and B both OK?" "Ya!" "What...?" "It first came to my attention because I'm the oldest." "I decided, to make a nice circle and I suggested," "that we go to a café near the studio." "But the girls were apprehensive." "So only the guys ended up in the café." "Later, the girls told me, that they had thought I was being a playboy." "What's that all about?" "What, you?" "Great big reaction." "That's great." "Lots of blood, tons." "I was shot 20 or 30 times." "Did you die?" "Ya." "How many?" "About 4 or 5." "4 or 5..." "Not many til now." "Even the girls are fighting each other." "Times are changing." "Even the girls are fighting." " Equal rights." "Even a girl attacked you?" "Ya." "And she tried to kill you?" "Ya." "I think Mitsuko is strong enough, to fight in the "Battle Royale"" "Who's there?" "Ya..." "It's OK?" "Your weapon." "Was it already used?" "Yoshimi and Kuramoto are next door." "They're both dead." "They're hanging all cozy next to each other." "But not me!" "I won't end up like that!" "Beautiful day today!" "The color won't go away." "I've already betrayed my friends." "How come?" "It's a secret." "A secret?" "Yup, my secret." "I'll only take so much bullying." "Really?" "Ya." "I didn't see the scene." "Can you tell me what happened?" "I was threatened with a knife and ran away." "But Chigusa ran after me." "And then something awful happened?" "Ya." "I was stabbed here twice, and also twice here." "Wait, should she grab here?" "Show me a new Chiaki Kuriyama." "Ya, do it like that." "Just a close-up of the knife?" "No, the whole thing is good." "I agree." "Always blaming someone else!" "That's why I hate your guts." "I'll resist you with my whole body!" "What if this was real?" "I think," "I'd be scared and hide." "I wouldn't know if I could trust my friends or whether I would stay together with them." "I would stay by myself." "It's easier to be alone." "Is that on?" "An interview ..." "Why do you think Kawada can kill so many people?" "Good question..." "I don't kill senselessly." "I'm defending myself." "Oh ya, sure, whatever." "It's self-defense." "Besides, why did you kill?" "I didn't kill anyone." "I didn't have to murder." "I didn't kill anyone." "I didn't have a weapon" "What's your weapon?" "What's your weapon?" "A gun." "Mine's poison." "Oh, so you're the one... the mass murderer!" "I'm innocent!" "Guilty!" "What did you do?" "I only cooked the stew." "How terrible." "And you?" "I did the dishes." "What's wrong?" "Who, who was it?" "Satomi, no!" "We're the only ones here!" "Chisato!" "you cooked it, right?" "!" "Haruka too!" "You think I killed her?" "!" "Cut it out!" "Satomi, lower that gun!" "You're suspicious yourself!" "Haruka!" "You didn't sleep at all the last 2 nights, did you?" "It just means you don't trust us" "I forgot my sleeping pills..." "Insomina at your age?" "!" "Cut it out!" "Satomi, lower that gun!" ""Shut the fuck up!" Bang!" ""Shut the fuck up!"" "Shut the fuck up!" "Sorry..." "Even if the soup sprays you, stay in character!" "Shut the fuck up!" "Cut the leadership crap!" "Chisato..." "You screwed up the poisoning!" "How can you say that?" "!" "You schemed with Nanahara to escape together!" "Hold it higher." "Once more!" "Not like that..." "Like this!" "I hope you can do it." "Shut up!" "Cut the leadership crap!" "Chisato..." "You screwed up the poisoning!" "How can you say that?" "!" "You schemed with Nanahara to escape together!" "Sayaka Kamiya as Satomi Noda" "Excuse me." "Was it you?" ""Was it you?" "!"" "Ya, like that." "Can you remember to hold it like that... along this line?" "I think it's stupid to betray your friends." "I would run away." "I couldn't kill anyone." "In reality it'd be different." "She'd really kill." "In this situation..." "I'd save myself first." "I think there isn't a choice." "I would figure out how to react and if I needed to be deceptive." "You schemed with Nanahara to escape together!" "Thanks." "Attention everybody, stay there!" "We're gonna take a photo!" "The ninth grade has a special meaning for me." "The war in the pacific ended with the surrender of Japan, when I was in the ninth grade." "About a month before the end of the war the US troops started bombing us." "It was hopeless to run away or hide." "It was all around us." "We were all turned around..." "About thirty people were killed." "The dispossal of the corpses was assigned us, the ninth graders." "We had to collect the dismembered limbs." "Only one will survive." "During every air raid, every bombing, we sought shelter under our friends' bodys." "I thought it was better to die, than to always live in fear," "but when the time came, I'd hide myself again." "When it was all over, we didn't feel shame but we were silent and we'd lick our wounds." "Today I would like..." "Ouch!" "It hurts...!" "I'm bleeding, dammit!" "Look who's talking?" "!" "Shut the fuck up!" "You tried to steal the gun, so you're guilty!" "Take this!" "Once more." "There are no rules." "What's so funny?" ""Hey, what's going on, Izumi?"" ""Open the door!"" "I can't take any more." "I probably pulled a muscle." "15 years old, Summer" "The battle continues" "Some people protect, others murder." "Some kill themselves." "Nanahara lets the others kill themselves." "It was an interesting Century for me." "Thinking back to the end of the war, it would be interesting, if everything was burned up and the Earth was totally flattened." "That would be interesting." "Takeshi Kitano as "Teacher Kitano"" "What's the main reason you are in this film?" "The producer came to me and said, the teacher is just like me." "I said, he's like ME?" "The director is Fukasaku." "And when he asked me, I really wanted to be in his film." "Then I found out that the teacher's name was "Kitano"" "That was a shock to me." "I not only had the role, but I was playing myself." "What was the intention of the director, to let you play yourself?" "Even the written symbol was the same." "The Kanji character?" "Ya." "The teacher shared my identity!" "Even the foreign spelling was the same way I spell it." "So it really meant I was playing myself." "Still, Fukasaku gave me very detailed directions about the character." "Ya, in that last short scene he gave you so many instructions." "He's definitely the most energetic." "Ya, really." "All the others drop from exhaustion." "But not Fukasaku." "Everyone else is tired, but he's fit, even though he's the oldest." "Ya, exactly." "I think it's his passion." "His feeling for the film." "Everyone's in awe of him." "Really it's just an image." "I play up my image, that I've created through film and TV." "But that's not how I really am." "I thought," "I should act like I normally do." "Since he rarely objects, I'd probably be OK with that." "Compared to the character in the novel, you play the teacher very seriously." "How should I explain it..." "He wanted me to play it this way." "Oh, ya?" "Ya." "Trying it out during rehearsals we had different takes." "He'd say: "Do it like this", I'd think, OK." "There's also a funny side to you, the comic "Beat" Takeshi?" "During a scene, he'd look at the monitor, and ask me, how I should act." "I'd die laughing." "But not at the beginning of the film." "What do you think, as a director, about the themes of violence and death?" "The meaning of the film..." "But I'm just an actor in this film." "I won't try to explain the meaning... or think about the production." "I don't want to interfere with the director." ""Shouldn't that come earlier?" That would be rude." "I act like he says." "I only grasp the general meaning of the film." "I don't think about the big picture." "In one scene you throw chalk at the students, and then a knife, killing a student." "Did you act heartlessly?" "The teacher loses it gradually." "In the beginning, only the students are out of control and the teacher endures them with firm patience." "But under certain circumstances even the adults get pissed off." "I think that's how it is in this film." "When something like that happens, then adults get cruel." "Now about Teacher Kitano" "Yesterday, I acted like I was stabbed by a poor kid with a knife." "This makes the teacher a multi-faceted character." "Yes, indeed..." "A man, who is dangerous and lovable at the same time." "The scene in the river bed is a good example." "Yes that scene..." "Here he dreams about, how it should be." "The ideal." "Ya." "Basically..." "the teacher is always like that." "Whether it's then or now." "Even this teacher is that way." "Internally, he's always thinking about his students." "And I believe..." "He breaks out of that unintentionally." "That's how I fell." "How was it, when you were 15 years old?" "From second to sixth grade," "I always had the same teacher." "Her name was Mrs. Fujisaki and I was totally in love with her." "And then... by the ninth grade, I didn't care about school any more." "It meant a lot to me... that the school system... was closed." "School should be a place, where students can study safely." "Talented students were especially supported, and the rest of the students were troublemakers." "A smart group and a stupid group." "I was in the stupid group and made trouble for the teachers." "But in my opinion... it's worse today than it was back then." "Back then, there were 60 students in a middleschool class." "16 classes with 1000 students." "Ya, that's right!" "That was the era of the baby boomers." "After every exam... they'd hang up the names of over 900 students." "The best and worst scores were always the same." "The best student went on to the University of Tokyo, the most renowned in Japan." "The worst student, the crazy idiot, is in a nut house these days and not still in school." "So altogether about 1000 students?" "The worst were pure evil." "Sometimes even Yakuza bosses." "There was everything." "There was a difference, but also much more energy." "Back then the teachers didn't know all of the students." "I'm often visited by old classmates and if I ask which class, they'll say, "class 15"." "I don't him, I was in class 2." "We only remember the best and the worst." ""If we're struck by a former student, then we will show them more affection."" "Do you build you performance upon your own experiences?" "Ya... back then, violence was... a kind of connection... or communication, you know?" "Nowadays violence is only punishing the body." "And so..." "The teacher gave the kids a slap on the head in order to communicate a point." "Not as punishment." "That's the big difference." "But the worst are people, who just watch violence." "Ya, passive viewers, who watch objectively from above, you know, really watch, they're the most powerful." "They commit the strongest violence." "Violence is always there anyway." "You hit or you don't." "But just watching is dangerous." "Those who let others hit." "Were you trying to be funny when you fell in the water?" "Sure..." "I meant to fall down there." "Slip or what?" "And fall." "That will probably be cut out." "Probably." "How was it to work with another generation?" "Oh... actually the students and I are together over here, and the director is up here." "I only act according to his direction." "It's really hard for the students though." "They're getting a lot of instructions, every time." "Also the long rehearsals..." "But that is the world of the director Fukasaku." "What is your impression Fukasaku as a director?" "The energy." "He has more energy than me, even though he's older." "Also his pacing." "I make pauses twice as long as he does between lines." "He often said: "Mr. Takeshi, please act twice as fast."" "I think his perception of time is twice as fast as mine." "I had to make the pauses between sentences extremely short." "It was almost impossible, to act slowly and methodically." "All of his films are like that." "His rhythm is faster." "Always more text in less time." "I take a lot of time, sometimes even too much." "There are different points of view." "I don't know, whose idea it was, to give the director a monitor." "Now he sees it in the monitor instead of through the camera." "Before he'd only see the picture and say OK." "But now he can pays attention to the tiniest little things." "He watches the actors, the moment they aren't speaking." "Then he'd say:" ""Why are you making that face?"" "Or: "Go over there..." He is now very precise." "My cameraman will soon be working with Fukasaku." "I asked him, why he brought that stand." "For the monitor, he says." "I say: "Then it takes longer." And it does." "On a shoot with 40 people, I've already lost interest." "I say, if it's not in the picture, then it's not important." "But not everyone agrees." "Kurosawa and other directors all did it the same way." "They are insanely precise." "Press Conference" "Welcome to this press conference." "Filming began on July 20." "The production has gone very well so far, and shooting is scheduled to be completed by the end of August." "We will be in Warsaw Poland on October 4th, 5th, and 6th, to record the film score with the Warsaw Philharmonic." "On October 29 the film will be finished." "We are happy that the production company, and the studio could arrange this press conference." "Thank you for your patience..." "Now let's invite the cast and crew of Battle Royale to please join us." "Please come on in!" "Coming in first, is the director, Mr. Fukasaku." "Many thanks." "Followed by the actors and the author of the novel." "They're all here so you can take your photos now." "The film BATTLE ROYALE from Toei, Amu Associates," "Kobi, Nihon Shuppan Hanbai," "Wow Wow and Gyaga Communications is a joint production of these seven companies." "Let's first talk to the author, Koshun Takami, about the original novel." "The book was a bestseller." "It sold over 300,000 copies, and it sparked a lot of controversy." "Welcome Mr.Takami." "I'm really a first-time writer." "It's bit surreal to be sitting on a panel next to Mr. Fukasaku and these famous stars." "It truly is unreal." "I'm thankful, to work with them on this film." "Thank you all for being here today." "The director is Mr. Fukasaku, an icon of Japanese film." "This is his sixtieth film." "Welcome Mr. Fukasaku." "Thank you all for coming today, despite this terrible heat." ""You can't turn back time."" "This is my guiding philosophy." "Sometimes I think to myself:" "" Don't think about your age!"" "Oh well... recently," "I have been thinking about my own life." "When I read this book, that deals with 42 students murdering each other, it was really quite a shock." "These kids lives were very similar, and yet so different... to my own personal experiences, as a student during the war." "My experiences and the book came together like that." "I knew I had to make the book into a film." "Still my own experiences are quite different from those of these young actors, and we had to communicate those differences to each other..." "That was something I always had to consider." "I must admit, they acted wonderfully." "I think it's interesting" "that Mr. Takeshi and I almost crossed career paths ten years ago." "I regret that we wasted so much time between then and now." "But I'm glad that we finally met again and that this time we were able to work together." "Thanks." "Thank you very much." "That was Mr. Fukasaku." "He was supposed to direct the film "Violent Cop" ten years ago, but he fell ill so the film's star, Takeshi Kitano, directed it instead." "Mr. Fukasaku said from then on, they were both very determined to work together on a film and this was their first chance." "Let's now pass the microphone to the actor Tatsuya Fujiwara who played the character Shuya Nanahara without a stuntman!" "I cried the first time I read the book." "And I cried again, when I read the script." "It's just so emotionally moving." "I hope a lot of people will go see the film." "I hope every Japanese person gets a chance to see it." "I think, this team of filmmakers was so enthusiastic and devoted." "My impression of the director, Mr. Fukasaku, is..." "He's more lively than us and he has so much energy." "His energy rubs off on us." "If we were dead tired, his vigor would wake us up." "During breaks between shots, I'd feel tired, but I'd look over at the director... and his energy would jumpstart me." "That kept me going until the next morning." "Miss Aki Maeda plays Noriko Nakagawa, who is secretly in love with Fujiwara." "I play Noriko Nakagawa." "She's a stubborn girl, who always goes against the flow." "She has her own set of values." "As the story plays out... her friends have all killed each other," "and none of the other students know" "if they can depend on each other." "She's scared of being alone, but she doesn't trust anyone else." "In this situation... she can only believe in the boy that she has a crush on." "She does things her own way." "I think she's a very strong girl." "Director Fukasaku was always wide awake, even though we shot all day, every day." "Since I arrived on the set," "I could feel his energy boost me up." "Thank you." "And now Taro Yamamoto, who plays Shugo Kawada." "Thanks." "I'm Taro Yamamoto." "When I first went to the audition," "I heard that the lead role was a ninth-grader." "So I thought," "I'd be playing a PE teacher or something." "But then they asked me, to read for the part of the ninth-grader." "I thought, this is crazy." "But I did it anyway, and I figured: "There's no way I'll get this part."" "During the audition, we rehearsed the different lines and the director had already given detailed instructions about how we should act even during the audition." "I thought the audition went pretty well but I didn't expect much." "They told us they'd decide that night, and we'd find out the next day if we got the part or not." "But a few weeks passed before I found out that I got the role of a ninth-grader even though I was already 25 years old." "I thought, Fukasaku must be crazy." "Sorry about that..." "What really inspired me though," "Fukasaku was using a cane at the time of the audition." "And when rehearsals started, he still had the cane, but at some point, he just dropped the cane and started running around." "He could run so fast, and I thought, is he crazy?" "I'd see that and think, something's gotten into him." "Even though he's 70 years old, he still works so passionately." "I'd love to be like him." "I really mean that!" "Next is Masanobu Ando, who plays Kazuo Kiriyama." "This time I was playing a character that was even younger than my very first role, so I was a bit hesitant..." "But I accepted the part anyway." "I realized, it was probably the first and only chance I'd get to wear a school uniform in a film." "And I figured I'd enjoy it." "I think there's something beautiful about being able to live and do whatever you want." "Ya, really, it's not so bad to be older." "And finally let's greet Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, who plays a teacher, also named "Kitano"." "He makes the 42 students kill each other." "Good afternoon." "The title of the film is BATTLE ROYALE which is a fight to the death." "If you came to the set of a Fukasaku film, you'll see for yourself what we mean by "Battle Royale"." "The director's assistant ran away," "The entire crew has collapsed from exhaustion." "I thought, is anyone here gonna make it out in one piece?" "I was only there a few times this month." "But when I came back yesterday, the whole crew had aged so much... like almost 20 years it seemed." "Only the director, Fukasaku is still energetic." "Apparently all that Philopon (Chinese meth) he's been taking works really well." "Seriously, he's a fantastic director." "He really is unbelievable." "He'd asked me if I would be in the film." "I knew about the book, and I knew the character of the teacher." "He said he wanted me for the role and I accepted it." "Then he said he wanted to use my name for the teacher's character." "I thought, great, now I'm playing myself." "But even the Katakana was the same as my real name." "As we began filming" "I realized that it was a good thing, that we hadn't worked together ten years ago." "I wouldn't have started my own career as a film director, if he had been able to direct that film." "Isn't it great how it worked out?" "He really is very energetic and it shows in everything he does." "It's especially visible in his films." "They're always exciting." "Thank you very much." "Mr Takeshi is on the set four days this month and tomorrow, August 17th is his last day of shooting." "We wish you all the best of luck." "Thank you very much."