{"id":324,"date":"2013-08-09T00:58:21","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T00:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/?p=324"},"modified":"2016-04-11T00:59:12","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T00:59:12","slug":"cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-this-is-just-the-beginning-of-my-russian-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/news\/cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-this-is-just-the-beginning-of-my-russian-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa: This is just the beginning of my Russian career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug 9, 2013
\nSource: RBTH Network<\/a><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

The Russian part of the shooting for the new drama titled The Priest-San completed in Yaroslavl Region on 4 August. Directed by Yegor Baranov, the film tells the story of Japanese priest Takuro Nakamura, who flees Yakuza wars at home for the Russian sticks. The protagonist is played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a Japanese actor and martial artist known for his roles in Mortal Kombat, Showdown in Little Tokyo, and Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. Most of the rest of the cast are Russian, including Ivan Okhlobystin, Pyotr Mamonov, Igor Zhizhikin, and Lyubov Tolkalina.<\/p>\n

In the following interview for Kinopoisk.ru, Cary-Hiroyuki speaks about his latest role, getting to know Orthodox Christianity, and a therapeutic system of his own invention.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Why did you decide to accept a role in a Russian film?<\/p>\n

\u2014 My entire career is fairly unusual. I am a Japanese actor working in Hollywood. Most of the projects I have worked on differed significantly from one another. All too often I receive invitations to play Japanese gangsters, but I have always been interested in trying something new. So when I was approached with the role of an Orthodox Christian priest in Russia, I did not hesitate a second. I said to myself: this is going to fit ideally with my filmography!<\/p>\n

\u2014 And a very unusual role it is. What was the hardest part for you in playing it?<\/p>\n

\u2014 To be honest, I had anticipated plenty of difficulties, but the reality turned out to be somewhat simpler. I had been afraid of a language barrier: you know, a Japanese actor conversing with the Russian crew in English. But we quickly learnt to understand each other. After the first filming day I knew that everything was going to work just fine. You know, we actors have a language of our own, a language that can penetrate any linguistic obstacles. I was very fortunate to work on The Priest-San with extremely talented people who are truly passionate about their profession. I think this is the most powerful film I have ever worked on.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ivan Okhlobystin and Pyotr Mamonov are both very religious personalities. Did they help you in any way to get to know Russian Orthodox Christianity better?<\/p>\n

\u2014 I can identify with the spirituality of Ivan and Pyotr, I am deeply religious myself. You cannot just grasp the essence of the Russian Orthodox Church with its centuries of history. Getting to know it takes time, and it’s a job for the heart rather than the mind. When I had first come to Russia I had very little time to get into the character. So I visited a number of Russian cathedrals in Yaroslavl and Rostov. Simply being inside had a very powerful effect on me. I am mightily impressed with Russia, although I know that Russians themselves are not entirely impressed with their country for some reason. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Should you get invited to work on another Russian film, will you accept?<\/p>\n

\u2014 I am absolutely confident that this was the first of many Russian projects for me. I have a Russian manager now and we are already discussing possible further projects.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Moviegoers mostly know you as a martial artist. Did you get to demonstrate your skills in The Priest-San?
\nRussian movies
\nMore about Russian movies<\/p>\n

\u2014 Perhaps not as extensively as you might be hoping for. In fact, I am not overly disappointed with the fact. (Laughs.) The film is more about me fighting myself. My preferred method is to heal people with martial arts. I have even developed it into a therapy system. Soon after I started studying martial arts I realised that this was not precisely my way. I certainly do value being respected for the roles of Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat or Heihachi in Tekken. I have often demonstrated my skills and performed stunts myself. In reality though, I like healing people much better than fighting them.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Your protagonist is constantly trying to help people find a way out of difficult situations. Is there any personal message that you would like to get across with this role?<\/p>\n

\u2014 I hope the film will help men realise that violence, especially violence against women, is unacceptable. I have played a lot of bad guys in my career but in this one my protagonist has to face his own demons. I would be happy if watching The Priest-San would drive the viewers to a bit of soul-searching. There is a huge difference between a soldier and a warrior. I believe that the Russian men have a warrior’s mentality, just like the Japanese men do. We live in a world of soldiers but we have much in common. Dignity and honour are the two qualities distinguishing the warrior, but they have absolutely no currency in the world of soldiers. I respect the Russian men for their manly qualities. Of course, they have their own problems, and I just hope that our film will help some of them sort theirs out.<\/p>\n

The article was initially published at the Kinopoisk.ru<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aug 9, 2013 Source: RBTH Network — The Russian part of the shooting for the new drama titled The Priest-San completed in Yaroslavl Region on 4 August. Directed by Yegor...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-the-priest-san"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carytagawaonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}