Aikawa Sho on NHK / Ishibashi Ryo

[Don Brown]

Stumbled across an interesting piece of television tonight.  Aikawa Sho was 
the guest on NHK's "Top Runner" interview programme, which I unfortunately 
came in on a little late, but I managed to see the bulk of it.
Apart from all the personal profiling and green tea biscotti (?), he did 
offer a few words about Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Miike Takashi and their 
differing styles of direction.  Kurosawa is a softly spoken individual (at 
their first meeting, Aikawa raved on for 45 minutes straight without any 
input whatsoever from Kurosawa) who directs from the background with a 
gentle touch.  Much of what is to happen is already spelled out in detail 
in his scripts, full of arrows and diagrams.  Miike on the other hand works 
with a speed that leaves others in his wake, including the actors.  Once 
one scene has finished shooting, he's already started setting up the next 
one.
Aikawa also spoke about his latest movie, "Rush!", which he also produced.  
He described it as a mix between "Pulp Fiction", "True Romance" and "Run 
Lola Run", or at least that is the aim.  Slapstick comedy is a major 
feature.  Looks like the plot is all his work, as he brought into the 
interview over one hundred hand-written pages of notes for the movie.  
"Shuri"/"Swiri"'s Kim Yoon-jin, Yanagiba Toshiro, Aso Kumiko, Osugi Ren and 
Abe Hiroshi star.  It's already been released in Tokyo.  Here's a link to 
the homepage:
http://cadet.cside4.com/rush/index.html
Plus, of all things there is to be an Aikawa Sho museum.  Construction is 
scheduled for completion in December of this year, at his family home in 
the countryside of Kawashima (I think).  Planned for exhibition are suits, 
a car and other stuff yet to be decided by the man himself.
And it seems that there is going to be a "Dead Or Alive 3".  It's currently 
being shot in Hong Kong, and according to Aikawa it's about 60% action.  
Lots of wire work.  A few scenes were shown from the location shooting.  
Both Aikawa and director Miike Takashi were sharing a fairly dodgy blonde 
dye job.
Finally, Aikawa revealed the identity of his greatest rival - John 
Travolta.  He was apparently quite taken with his dancing in "Staying 
Alive" and still hopes to master the steps himself.  No plans to revisit 
his old singing and dancing days, although he would like to perform at the 
Budokan if given the chance.  

By the way, Ishibashi Ryo and his band ARB have reunited and recently put 
out a new single, "Hard Boiled City".  Here's the band's official homepage:
http://www.universal-music.co.jp/universal/artist/arb/
Don Brown
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