Director's Commentary

ComatoseBunnySnatcher · #1 15th August 2008, 08:22 PM

I was on the net looking on stuff on Like Grains Of Sand. In the interview, the director had this to say about our Ayu:

(Q)A very different question finally. What is your opinion on Ayumi Hamasaki's rise to pop music superstardom since her role in Like Grains of Sand?

Well, it's great, isn't? (Laughs). During the production of that film we would sometimes do karaoke together and I thought she was a really good singer. So I suggested she should try to become a singer. She was seventeen at the time and she replied that she would also like to become a singer, but she wasn't sure about taking that step.

(Q)So it's all thanks to you?

Maybe. I guess so, yes. I still keep a love letter from her that she wrote me in those days, in which she said I had to become her everything (smiles).

Lolz.

http://www.midnighteye.com/interview...shiguchi.shtml

mimika · #2 15th August 2008, 08:51 PM

Like Grains Of Sand?? what is it???

YuriChan · #3 15th August 2008, 08:56 PM

^It's a movie that Ayu starred in!

ComatoseBunnySnatcher · #4 15th August 2008, 11:03 PM

Yeah. It's a gay movie.

I wonder if Ayu really DID give him a letter.

micster · #5 15th August 2008, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nippon

Yeah. It's a gay movie.

I wonder if Ayu really DID give him a letter.

Maybe. Is this not the director who then later got sued for making actress sleep with him to get good roles [And Ayu never said anything but her pre-avex stuff was pulled from her site]

kirei_ayumi · #6 15th August 2008, 11:08 PM

It's really cool that the director thought that ayu had a nice voice back then.

Melrose · #7 15th August 2008, 11:09 PM

@Nippon: Really? Haha awesome :333 Now that you mention it, the cover did have two romantic guys. But there were gay movies back then? I thought they only started showing up post-2000-ish.

pommy48 · #8 15th August 2008, 11:15 PM

a gay movie? oh ok then
thanks for sharing then~

truehappiness · #9 15th August 2008, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by micster

Maybe. Is this not the director who then later got sued for making actress sleep with him to get good roles [And Ayu never said anything but her pre-avex stuff was pulled from her site]

I think he's some random independent director.. though, even if there was someone like that that Ayu has worked with, I imagine she knows what's good for herself and wouldn't have gone the "sleazy" way out.

Ayu probably did give him a letter. I mean after all the letters she wrote to Max from New York and so on [I don't really know specifics] I wouldn't find it hard to believe that she felt a connection to the director though. She tends to feel as though the people she works with = family.. I mean, even now she's like that.

ComatoseBunnySnatcher · #10 15th August 2008, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I think he's some random independent director.. though, even if there was someone like that that Ayu has worked with, I imagine she knows what's good for herself and wouldn't have gone the "sleazy" way out.

She could'nt really anyway, since he was gay =D

#11 15th August 2008, 11:28 PM

^I don't think he was gay...

MissElin_ · #12 16th August 2008, 12:33 AM

Hahaha. He's taking all the creds I see! XD

Raiu-Ayu · #13 16th August 2008, 12:55 AM

I don't believe the thing he said about the singing. Did ayu state many times that she didn't want to be a singer cuz she just wanted to enjoy life then decided to because she 'had nothing better to do'?

truehappiness · #14 16th August 2008, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raiu-Ayu

I don't believe the thing he said about the singing. Did ayu state many times that she didn't want to be a singer cuz she just wanted to enjoy life then decided to because she 'had nothing better to do'?

Well, her acting in this was only about a year AFTER her first encounter with Max.

She was 17 during filming apparently and she was 16 when Max first approached her.

Quote:

　　(A) Ah, I see. Ayu could find songs. But I was quite similar as you. Ayu didn't even graduated from senior high school, actually dropped it out as I was fed up with it, and was idling away my time after that. And why I could find songs --- I really think we cannot do anything for ourselves. I think it's really impossible to find something and try to start something all alone. And speaking about why I could find songs --- Do you know Max Matsuura, being the producer of my works now?
　　(U) Yes.
　　(A) Do you know? I've known the man since I was sixteen.
　　(U) Really?
　　(A) Yes, I've known him for about four years. And when we went to a Karaoke house together, I was told by the man, "You are poor at singing."
　　(U) What?
　　(A) And he said to me, "Poor at singing, but you have a good voice", and "Go to take lessons." I didn't go to school nor do any jobs then. I thought it would not be bad because I had nothing to do, and I took the lessons. Ayu had always been told "Hamasaki can't do anything." before then, in the senior high school and in the junior high school. I had been told, "Don't do any unwanted things, as you can't do anything." So I didn't go to junior high school often. I barely entered a senior high school but dropped it out. But then, the man, Max Matsuura said to Ayu, "You can." I was neglected in voice trainings and dance lessons and playing hard at that time. I was thinking much of how to play. But he said to Ayu, "You can. You can write lyrics and sing songs", and "I feel something within you." It was for the first time for Ayu to meet such a person. I was never told such a thing even by my parent. I met a person who expected Ayu for the first time and I was shocked very much. And I thought I would do my best, even if the man had made a wrong guess. And as the result of my deed, I managed to come here. I'm here now because I met Max Matsuura, and after that, the present manager and the people around me, that is, the present staff around me. I think I could never do that for myself. So I think White Usagi-chan will surely have such an important encounter. It may be tomorrow, it may be ten years later. And Ayu hope you will not miss the chance.
　　(U) The chance will surely come some day?

"White Usagi" is a penname of someone who asked a question on ALL NIGHT NIPPON when Ayu was on after ASFXX's release.

GRACE · #15 16th August 2008, 01:49 AM

That's a nice to hear =D I loved her in Like Grains of Sand, I really believed her character.

Chibi_Venus · #16 17th August 2008, 07:01 PM

In response to the first post, I think it's neat to see anyone ten years plus before Ayumi today. It's like, "No one had any idea what would become of these times."

criminal · #17 17th August 2008, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nippon

Yeah. It's a gay movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melrose

@Nippon: Really? Haha awesome :333 Now that you mention it, the cover did have two romantic guys. But there were gay movies back then? I thought they only started showing up post-2000-ish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pommy408

a gay movie? oh ok then

I think the phrase "gay movie" is making you believe that it is something other than it really is. It's not sleazy or trashy or anything.. it's a very beautiful film about a love triangle.
Yeah, and the earliest LGBT-related movies are from the 1920s, just so you know.