Blurbing about Joe Odagiri

Now that I have come out of closet (?) regarding Joe Odagiri, I just would like to blurb out my feelings about him.  I have done so many times about Sanada-san, but never had any chance to do so in English about Joe.

I like him not just because he is cool, sexy and great at acting, but I also believe that he has a potential to be "next big star" from Japan in international scene, after Hiro and Ken Watanabe.

He studied acting in CSUF (see photo above) as the start of his career.  He went back to Japan and started professional acting after that, so he is relatively a late starter / late bloomer.  I saw his film "Big River", all English-line movie filmed in the U.S., and I was REALLY impressed by his natural and powerful acting even with English lines.  His strength is his face/body expressions rather than the speaking itself, so he has an advantage.  For example, Koji Yakusho, another big Japanese actor, shines in his conversations, so when he speaks English lines in "Memoirs of a Geisha", not only his poor accent, but also lack of his original "speaking" power really really bothers me.  Joe is different.  His English pronounciation is VERY good to start with (sorry for my honesty, but I think Joe is even better than Hiro in English lines), and he handles the lines VERY naturally.

He certainly has a strong charisma.  He is a self-made man, not a manufactured product of a large agency.  He has a rare talent of "expressing" something.  Many of recent big Japanese stars (Takuya Kimuras of the world) are "TV personalities", but in an essence, Joe is a very rare "Japanese movie star", that shines in big screens, although he does some TV dramas also.  And movies are more international in nature.  He is a regular in Cannes and Venezia, with all kinds of art/avant-garde/extraordinary/strange/funny - whatever films.

I really wish Sanada-san had this environment like Joe in his younger days.  He was not allowed to express himself as he liked, was pigeon-holed in B-class action movies and was not allowed to act in more art-type films that had more chance to be shown in international film festivals.  He was forced to sing in cheezy TV shows, was forced to keep his "idol" status.  He would have been much happier and probably accomplished more if he were allowed more free hands.

When I read Hiro's recent interviews, I can feel he is SOOOO HAPPY that he is finally free from all these limitations.  That is why he lives in the US.  Some people say he is now out of star-status in Japan because of his absense on Japanese TV, but he does not care an inch about it.  He is too happy to care about it.  And so am I.

ANYWAY.  So far, Joe Odagiri is too busy doing all these domestic works, and has not shown interest in international activities, but some day, I hope my prediction come true!!

ちょっと日本語でも。。。
ついに私は最近、オダギリジョーに浮気していることを告白してしまいました。なんで気になるかというと、まーとにかくカッコイイ、セクシーということのほかに、真田さんに続く国際俳優になる可能性があると思っているからです。「Big River」での英語での演技はたいしたものだと思いました。悪いけど、真田さんより英語のセリフは上手いと思う。

自分の好きなように自分を表現したり、実験的な作品に出たりすることが許されていて、なんか自分をしっかり持ってる感じもします。「テレビタレント」ではない、日本では珍しい本格的な「映画スター」だと思います。で、映画はテレビよりも国際的。下地はあるんです。

真田さんが若い頃、今のオダギリさんのような環境にあったら、どんなによかったか、と思います。真田さんは、特にお若い頃、ありとあらゆる制約に囲まれて苦しんでいたように思うのです。もっと、若い頃から芸術映画に出ることができれば、カンヌとかの国際映画祭にも行く機会が多かっただろうし、そういう監督との仕事ももっとできただろうし、国内でのステータスも「アイドル」じゃなくて「映画俳優」に早くなれたと思うし、もっと幅広く活躍できたと思うのです。最近のアメリカでのインタビューを読むと、ようやくそういう制約から解き放たれて、毎日が楽しくてしょうがないように聞こえます。

まーとにかくですね。今のところオダギリさんは、海外の作品に出る気はないようですが、そのうちやってくれないものか、と思っています。

もう一つ蛇足。こういう妄想は、他の方の掲示板とかに書くのは気が引けるので。オダギリさんは、女性関係の噂とか皆無な方なのですが、もし結婚するなら、そのへんの女優とかアタリマエの相手とはしないでほしいと思うのです。私の妄想理想の相手は、ズバリ「女性映画監督」。「ゆれる」の西川美和さんとかね。男性の監督と女優というのはよくある組み合わせだけど、女性の監督と男優というのは、すっごく新しくてcoolで、オダギリさんらしいと思いません？