barbosa2007 | BRUTUS December 2009 - Nino Interview (Reply)

Ninomiya discusses the profound influence Clint Eastwood had on his life as an actor, and which movies he has shed tears at.

Tear Jerker Films

For the cover photo shoot, Nino shed tears in front of the camera. For an actor who’s capable of bringing the audience to the verge of tears, what kind of movies would he cry at?

“Considering the feelings of the people watching the movie, I would act in such a way so as to not awaken them from their illusion.” Thus said Ninomiya Kazunari, who also claims in order to achieve that, an actor need not necessarily experience those emotions in reality. Whilst being sincere in his performance, he has never cried while watching a movie. He speaks of a change in perspective after an encounter with the director Clint Eastwood.

Ninomiya Kazunari starred in Clint Eastwood’s movie, “Letters from Iwo Jima”, which was a heart rending depiction of soldiers in the island of Iwo Jima during second World War. Although the movie had already premiered three years ago, Ninomiya’s encounter with Eastwood’s works had a profound influence on his life as an actor.

“When the script for the movie first came to me, I virtually had no information on the director Clint Eastwood. Although I vaguely remembered hearing of his name, I had no idea who he was or even what he looked like. For the first four days when I was in Los Angeles, I couldn’t recognise him properly and I said something like, “Was the person whom we said Good Morning to on the first day our director?” (laughs)

However, before I had met him, I watched “Mystic River” and was deeply impacted by the movie. To get to know Eastwood the director better, I thought I had better watch a film where he thoroughly permeated the movie, so I chose this film. And I was touched by Sean Penn’s acting in the film; I thought to myself, “How could this guy be so awesome!” It was the first time I had experienced such emotions while watching a movie.

Sean Penn fully grasped and portrayed the audience’s image of an American foreigner, and presented it clearly onscreen. If [the people/events portrayed in] the movie deviated from what we imagine them to be, we wouldn’t be able to empathise with them. We won’t laugh at the movie nor cry because of it. In a positive sense, we will stay true [to our feelings]. I’ve never thought of it this way before, so it’s something which I learnt after I watched Eastwood’s films.

“When an actor is performing a crying scene, real tears can actually sometimes be a hindrance,” thinks Ninomiya.

Eastwood makes use of the actor himself, rather than the words or feelings transmitted in the script, to compose the show. He enlightened us on the economics of acting. I followed his words to the letter, and devoted myself to bringing a fresh breath of air to my acting. When I hear comments like, “I was brought to tears by Ninomiya’s acting,” I feel really accomplished and this makes me very happy. Upon hearing that, I had felt that adding real tears or sorrow to my performance were actually unnecessary. If I were overly immersed in my role, I could end up overcommitting in a crying scene and cause the audience to awaken from their illusion.

Although he doesn’t overreact in front of famous directors and appears to be exceedingly cool and detached as an actor, Ninomiya is normally easily moved to tears. “If I watch programs like a live sports telecast or a documentary the tears just flow freely. Take the Olympics for example, even though I wasn’t the one who had worked so hard for the past four years I get emotionally involved straight away. Although I almost never cry when watching live-action films, if I’m watching anime I start bawling without hesitation. I cried when I saw the heroism demonstrated in Wall-E. When I saw the episode of “Doraemon – The Memories of Grandma” on DVD, I was also moved. It was a story about how Nobita rode on the Time Machine and visited his already dead grandmother in the past. My tears couldn’t stop flowing when the two of them met. I also like Ghibli’s works. My biggest impression of Spirited Away was this scene where Chihiro was crying as she ate her onigiri. Chihiro cried an insane amount of tears. Although it felt like [the animators were] overdoing it, for the audience which had something impressed upon their hearts, the amount of tears was just right. I, too, hope to become an actor where I can transmit my feelings to the audience so that they can cry while watching my movies. Even just once.