It was just an interview. Cameras were forbidden so that we couldn't take photos
and there was no autograph... But it was great ! Kitano is really impressive ! He is very small (less than 1meter60 I think, he is just a little taller than me) and very funny... He didn't show off or anything like that... He was always telling jokes when he answered the questions (silly questions BTW, the guy who interviewed him was really... tssss). A very cool guy !!!!
When he entered the room, he walked just at 1 or 2 meters far from me !!!! He weared a classic black tuxedo. His hair was cut short because of his last movie Zatoichi (released 11 nov 2003 in France). This interview was organised by the Fnac (a French megastore) for the new movie Zaitoichi.
Zatoichi is the name of a Japanese movie and series character, very famous in Japan. Zatoichi was a samourai (a ronin) thas was blind and his cover was to tell ppl that he was a "masseur" (someone who does massages). Zatoichi's weapon is a long "sword" (saber ?) hidden in a cane. Kitano was asked to make an adaptation about the character of Zatoichi (it has been 14years since there was no film made about Zatoichi) in memory of the actor that used to play the role of Zatoichi (there was a guy in Japan who was famous all his life for having played the role of Zatoichi, I don't remember the name of this man but when you hear his name, it is synonymous of Zatoichi now, and vice versa).
Kitano accepted to make this movie but he wanted to have freedom for the making of the movie (speed movements of the video camera, the importance of the percussions, Zatoichi dyed in blond lolol, the cane in red instead of in white etc). So did he. In the serie talking about Zatoichi, the rythm was very slow. Kitano thought it was better to change it because it was outdated, he thought it was more modern to use speed movements of the camera and to multiply the number of "shots" (I don't know the appropriate vocabulary sorry) in order to add speed.
He explained that he chosed that because they had to shoot in studios so he had to move the camera because the actors couldn't move much. It was also to avoid ppl to notice the small details in the background that could be considered as anachronism.
I have many more to say about this interview but I don't have muche time right now, so I'll continue this later...
