Jason Behr, one of the stars of the upcoming ghost movie, The Grudge, talks to Horror.com about the experience.
In the ghostly horror film set for a late October 2004 release, Jason Behr (of “Roswell” fame) plays Doug, the boyfriend of an exchange student studying social work in Japan. Karen is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and when she is assigned to seemingly haunted house, she hears ominous scratching sounds from upstairs. When she investigates, she is faced with a supernatural horror more frightening than she could ever imagine. She flees the house, but “something” has followed her, making Karen and Doug’s lives a living hell.
One of the things that makes The Grudge unique is that it is a remake of popular Japanese film, called Ju-On: The Grudge, and is directed by Takashi Shimizu, the same writer/director of the original. Jason says he was blown away by the original Ju-On. “I watched it in my living room with a bunch of friends and we all thought it was fantastic, different from any horror film we’d ever seen. So I really couldn’t pass up the chance to do a Japanese horror film in English. I immediately packed my bags for Japan.”
Jason talked to Horror.com about acting in another horror film and what it was like to work in Asia for the first time, with a director who did not speak very much English.
Was your character in the original Ju-On?
No. The Grudge has a lot of the same elements from the first Ju-On, but there's a lot of other things that were added.
This is a franchise and The Grudge is, what, the third in the series in Japan?
Yeah. There are familiar things that you'll see that are necessary to tell the story from the first Ju-Ons, but there are different elements added. I don't think Shimizu would have done an exact carbon copy of it. We wanted to do something a little different.
Are you a fan of the genre?
Yeah. I think we all grew up on An American Werewolf in London and Friday the 13th.
Since this movie has a phantom-theme, what's your favorite ghost movie?
I'd have to say The Grudge, now.
You have to, huh? Contractual obligation?
Let's see, the best ghost story. I'd say The Shining, probably. That's the best one. That's probably the best one, aside from this.
I understand you had to do some reshoots after principle photography wrapped. What was that about?
We basically went back because we knew we were going back to pick up some shots. Some additional scenes.
Sarah said something about filming the back story of the characters…?
Yeah. It was about Sarah and my characters, kind of giving them a little more life and getting a chance to see them in their relationship and how are they are as humans. So, I guess, to humanize them a little more.
What were the challenges of working with a director that doesn't speak much English?
In the beginning, he would come over and he would speak for awhile and then the translator would say, "Let's just do it again." And that was sort of like the standard mode of operation for the first couple of days. We really didn't get a whole lot of direction from him, it was always just through the translator. By the end of the shoot, we developed scrïpt shorthand and he learned English really, really quickly. So he was able to communicate with us by himself after awhile.
Did you learn much Japanese?
A skosh. [note: slang derived from the Japanese word sukoshi, meaning a little bit.] I know just enough to order food and drinks and that's about it.
I got the sense that Shimizu is a really nice, unassuming guy, even though he writes really terrifying stories…
He's just a… It's amazing that this story came out of that mind. Because I mean, it's a pretty terrifying story. I guess his head is a pretty scary place to be, but he's a really friendly guy. He's got a wicked sense of humor, one that doesn't often need translation. He's just a really playful, fun guy to be around.
Sarah said she has a strange sense of humor. Did she screw around with you on set a lot?
Not so much. Not so much. I think she stole my shoes once. You have to take off your shoes when you get in the house; when you enter any house in Japan. It's disrespectful to the house if you don't. So I remember coming back one time and my shoes were missing and I knew she did it, right away.
Did you ever not take off your shoes going into a house and something bad happened to you?
No. Pretty much as soon as you walk towards any house, you know you take your shoes off.
Did you get her back, after she stole your shoes?
No, not really.
She's just in the next room. There's still time.
[laughs]
Have you been hanging out with Shimizu in Los Angeles?
Yeah. We did some looping and I brought him to Krispy Kreme Donuts. He'd never been there before. He loved them. His favorite was The Original.
Sarah said he's becoming American. Do you see that?
[laughs] The first time I saw him in Los Angeles, he had his cell-phone glued to his ear. So he definitely went Hollywood for awhile. Yeah, he has his Birkenstocks and his little Hawaiian shorts and a cell-phone: That is Shimizu, Hollywoodized.
All he needs now is a trophy wife and a convertible.
I think he's working on that.
Did you work with KaDee Strickland at all?
No. I don't have any scenes with her, but she's great. She's great. We had a really great group of people out there. To be in Japan away from all your loved ones, it was really… we got really lucky. KaDee, and Clea [DuVall], and Bill [Pullman] and everybody just had a grand time when we went out.
I've been to Toyko myself once, and I noticed there aren't any street signs. So when you went out, did you go by yourselves or did you have a guide?
The streets have no names. It's not just a song. It's absolutely true. Sarah and I were there first, so we kind of went off exploring together, navigating the subways and such. But then, when you have your days off, I would just get on the train and go. And I think I probably touched every corner of Toyko. It's a huge city; there are 30 million people in Tokyo.
Did you look at some of the great temples?
I went to Sengakuji, I went to The Imperial Palace, I did get the chance to go to Kyoto and go to Nijojo which is Ieyasu Tokugawa's old residence in Kyoto and was the capital of Japan. I went everywhere. I watched a samurai sword being made by this guy named Yoshihara Yoshindo who is like, the next in line to be the national treasure in sword-making.
Kill Bill 3!
Yeah. [laughs] I actually looked at a lot of samurai swords in different shops and I asked somebody if they knew Sonny Chiba and I don't think they thought it was funny. [laughs] So I kept the wisecracks to myself, especially in that environment with all the swords around.
There's a lot of pride in the making of the swords.
There are a lot of things, but that's one of the things that makes Japan so refreshing and endearing is that no matter if you're making a samurai sword or a sandal, they do it to the best of their ability and take great pride in what they do -- but humble. It's a beautiful culture. To be able to experience that for three months is just a dream come true.
Did you buy a sword?
No. But I do plan on going back and doing a little shopping. You've got to pick the right sword. Or it picks you, I guess.
Would you ever do a sequel to The Grudge?
If the opportunity presents itself I would definitely read the scrïpt and take a look at it. I would work with Shimizu again in a heartbeat. He was amazing. Even with all the obstacles in the beginning with the whole language barrier, and being able to overcome those and still make the movie that we made, I would work with him again in a heartbeat.
I grew up on these kinds of films and I've seen horror films, and this is the most original horror film I've seen in years.
Are you a fan of the Japanese horror films in general?
I liked Ringu very much. But The Grudge is the best of both worlds I think, because it doesn't lose any of that Japanese sensibility. It definitely has a different flavor in that way that Ju-On was very unique. But The Grudge is that with American actors in Japan telling that story. It's pretty terrifying.
You know Sarah from an episode you did on Buffy, but was there something about her you learned while working with her in Japan that you didn't know before?
I've known her for awhile, but it's interesting how she was on Buffy and I was on Roswell and um, to come back and spend three months in the same place. It was great to have a friend to go exploring with and to go do things with. I guess she hasn't changed a whole lot. She's still the same person, pretty much, that I knew way back when. She's a good person. She knows what she wants in life and how to get it. As I worked with her I could see that she's really, really happy and I'm ecstatic for her. Working with her on Buffy a long time ago and then coming back to work together again, it was great to have a friend in Japan… to be one of the lone Americans out there and to have, to feel so… There's a definite sense of being lost in translation and there's a sense loneliness if you don't have anybody around, so it was really, really good for both of us, I think.
She seems like a really … [unintelligible]
I think we both pushed each other to go out and explore different things. I mean, we both had our little books of Tokyo and you know, dog-earing pages and saying, "We did this, we did that. Now let's go see this and let's go do that." We both did things on our own as well, but we were there for three weeks before anyone else got there so got a lot of site seeing in before we started work.
Which episode of Buffy were you in?
I don't remember.
Lie To Me.
Thank you.
Ford.
Ford, Ford. That's right! [laughs] It was a kid who wanted to trade Buffy in for immortality because he had a brain tumor. And Joss directed it. Ford was an old boyfriend from Sunnydale. Billy 'Ford' Fordham. That's so funny. They gave me the greatest sweater-vests to wear. I had this really gawd-awful, like, orange and green sweater-vest. Who wears sweater-vests? Apparently, evildoers in sheep's clothing.
Was there anything you learned about yourself, working in Japan?
I always had sort of a desire to go to Japan and I didn't really know why. I just really liked the culture. I liked a lot of things that were Japanese. I think what I found out about myself is, why. And understanding that love and that culture is just… Japan was just an amazing experience for me personally because everywhere I traveled -- be it the giant Sony building in the middle of this bustling city, and around the corner is this 300 year old temple. It was like a meeting of these two different worlds, that I found myself kind of grappling onto both of them. Kind of being nostalgic about things past, and also going forward in the future. It was just a really nice centering.
Have you noticed a lot more people are aware of Roswell since it's come out on DVD?
What's funny about it, is that it was playing a lot in Japan. Both Roswell, and Buffy. So it was kind of interesting to listen to my voice being dubbed, because I knew what I said back then! But I have a much sexier voice in Japanese.
What was it like?
It was weird. I want to meet the guy, I want to see what he looks like. The voice has a little more power to it [than mine], a little sexier than I was able to give.
I'm sure they're prepping more Roswell DVDs -- will you be participating?
I think they're doing 2… I think they did 2 when I was in Japan. The last time they came out with the first one, it was like this small window of opportunity that I… "Can you come in and do this stuff?" And I was in Minnesota at the time, so it was like, 2 days went by and that was it. And so this last time they did the second one, I was in Japan. So I'm not on either of the special things.
Would you want to be involved in the future, if you're around?
Absolutely, absolutely.
Some people shy away from these things.
I'm trying to think… no, no. I would definitely do it… It was literally, like, 2 days. They weren't even expecting to do a boxed set, I guess. And they called me at the last minute and said, "Can you come in?" And I'm like, "I'm in Minnesota, I'm watching a ballgame. My Twins are winning."
What's next for you ?
I just wrapped a movie called Shooting Livien. It's about this delusional musician who sounds a lot like John Lennon. So I had to do a lot Lennon research, and read a lot of books and watch a lot of DVDs, and music videos; a lot of things on John and Yoko. And I had to learn to play guitar -- or at least four songs really, really well. The whole movie revolves around this rapid decline, drugs and rock & roll. I had to drop 40 pounds for it to kind of get there. It helped out a lot, you sort of wear your skin differently. It hangs on your bones a little bit lighter. It was an amazing experience. We did that movie in about a month and a half. Real bare-bones. I probably got about 2 hours of sleep a night. Really, really working hard on it. But it's, um… I'm really, proud of it. I hope people get a chance to see it. We're just finishing it up now and we'll probably do the festival circuit.
Interview by Staci Layne Wilson
Sujet: the Grudge 
Jeu 28 Juil 2005 - 23:50
seb 
minifique les photos j'adord.
