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Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar - "The Grudge 2" Movie - Takako Fuji Ign.com Interview

Friday 7 April 2006, by Webmaster

IGN FilmForce recently paid a visit to the Japanese set of The Grudge 2 where we spoke with actress Takako Fuji, who reprises her role as the terrifying ghost Kayako Saeki. The Sony sequel, directed by Takashi Shimizu, stars Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen and Jennifer Beals. Sarah Michelle Gellar will also return as Karen, the protagonist of 2004’s The Grudge. The films are based on the Japanese Ju-on movies.

As any Grudge fan can tell you, Kayako is the vengeful spirit who haunts the Tokyo home where she was murdered, cursing all who enter the home to meet a grisly fate. For Takako Fuji, playing the role of Kayako is old hat by now. "This is the sixth time I’ve played her in a movie. It’s difficult sometimes to keep up the motivation, because I’ve played her so many times," the actress admitted.

"There are two different things that stand out as special scenes for me to play this time. There is one scene with the mirror that the reflection with Kayako ... will do something very surprising," she revealed, adding, "The second scene takes place in the photographer’s dark room, where she’s actually in the water. This is something she has never done before. The scene hasn’t been shot yet, so I’m really looking forward to that."

Takako believes that, since The Grudge 2 is an original story and not a remake of the Japanese sequel to the original Ju-on, the film is "very fresh. The script is well-written. I have to do my best as an actress."

Commenting on her working relationship with the film saga’s creator and director, Takashi Shimizu, the actress explained that, "I am not a very talkative person, and he isn’t either, so it used to be that we never really talked to each other. But we do share the same goals, and so just recently we started chatting [laughs]. It took me seven years!"

Takako Fuji reprises her role as the terrifying Kayako in The Grudge 2.

So how does Takako measure working on the American versions versus the Japanese originals? "The Hollywood remake obviously is a bigger production. We were able to build the sets and everything, where we can do more stuff. So contrary to Japanese production, we have to use existing houses and we are not allowed to use different equipment and stuff, so we have to use whatever is available to us. But still, it was fun to do as a team, so both ways are fun."

The actress also speculated on why Japanese ghost stories like The Grudge have now become so popular internationally. "I feel that some of the reasons are because typical American ghosts are zombies and demons and stuff like that, but when it comes to the Japanese ghosts it’s more like a grudge. People’s feelings are into it. I think that’s something new to America. I think that’s maybe what makes it scary."

The Grudge 2 opens stateside October 13.