I'm pretty sure she wrote it in English originally, as it was co-plotted with Paul Haggis (and Clint to an extent) and he (they) had to be able to read it before any actors were hired. <br><br>Here is a copy of the English script, if anyone else is interested:
<a href="http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Letters_From_Iwo_Jima_2006.pdf">http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Letters_From_Iwo_Jima_2006.pdf</a><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/17/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">
Howard Katz</b> <<a href="mailto:howardk@fatdog.com">howardk@fatdog.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="">
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond">Hi all,</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond">I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks. This seems like a
good time to leap in and say hello. I spent five years in Japan in the early
70's and am just now, after a 30-year hiatus, getting back into the language and
culture again. I'm having a great time using the fabulous resources available on
the web to resurrect old language skills. </font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond">I have a question. I enjoyed Letters from Iwo Jima and would love
to see the screenplay. I have found several suppliers on the web, but it's
not clear whether the screenplays they're selling are in English or Japanese. I
had heard that Iris Yamashita wrote the original script in English and then had
it translated. Does anybody know which language the commercially available
screenplay is in? (I don't have much interest in an English
version.)</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond">Thanks,</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Garamond">Howard</font></span></div><br>
<blockquote dir="ltr" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Mark
Nornes<br><b>Sent:</b> May 14, 2007 7:59 AM<br><b>To:</b>
KineJapan<br><b>Subject:</b> Ikui Eiko's "Letters from Iwo Jima: Japanese
Perspectives"<br></font><br></div><div><span class="e" id="q_1129ca00e39b2d3e_1">
<div></div>
<div>Aaron has translated Ikui-san's revision of an Asahi Shinbun article for
Japan Forum. Here are a couple nuggets: </div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;">What is intriguing is that a
hero like Saigo is exceptional less in Japanese history than in the history of
Japanese film. It is well known that not all Japanese during the war were
fascists and that it was not rare for common soldiers at the front to
privately express discontent like Saigo. But the depiction of low-ranking
grunts complaining in Japanese film up until now has been significantly
different. One basically did not see a soldier who clearly looks as weak and
as insignificant as Saigo baring his grievances so openly and incessantly in
films by Japan's major studios (the producers' casting of the idol singer
Ninomiya Kazuya in this role was astute). That's why, as the narrative
progresses, Saigo gradually approaches the image of the common man one
occasionally sees in American cinema. Yet the great majority of Japanese
spectators were not conscious of this.</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Viewed from this perspective,
one realizes that the peculiar praise of Letters as "a movie a Japanese should
have made" bore a simple meaning for most Japanese viewers that was not at all
unnatural. To put it a different way, it suggests how much the manners of
American cinema have become close and familiar to today's Japanese audiences.
In most cases, the history that cinema depicts belongs not to the past but to
the present, and in an interesting fashion Letters foregrounds "which present"
contemporary Japanese viewers are living in.</span></font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"></span></font>
</div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;">...</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;">In Flags of Our Fathers, there
is not a single high-ranking officer or politician worthy of respect, while in
Letters from Iwo Jima, the most esteemed figure is the enemy who dies. It is
for this reason that this combination of films bears a great political
significance in American society that is not found in
Japan.</span></font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"></span></font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Find out what it is by directing your browser to: </div>
<div><br></div>
<div><a href="http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2417" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2417</a></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Markus</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div></span></div></blockquote></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-rob<br><a href="http://www.robixsmash.com/">http://www.robixsmash.com/</a>