The prototype of Kayako’s character was created by Shimizu for his first three-minute student film and he considers it his good fortune to have discovered actress Takako Fuji, who has portrayed the vengeful character ever since. “When I saw Takako in a theater performance for the first time, I knew she would be perfect for my ghost,” he says. “That feeling of inspiration she gave me 10 years ago remains with me to this day.”
“The Ju-On franchise would have never been as successful without her,” he continues. “It is all in the details. For example, notice how Takako widens her eyes. For most of us, when we do that, we actually look kind of silly. When Takako does it, however, it looks completely natural. The action doesn’t even create wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. It’s remarkable.”
Fuji says she still remembers the student film, Katei Homon, she made ten years ago, which was shot in just one day. Of recreating the role for the sixth time, she says, “In the beginning, I was mostly expressing Kayako’s anger. Then as we made more movies, Shimizu-san started to direct me with more feelings: ‘Kayako is crying out for help, she is sad and so on,’ he would explain. So Kayako became more human as we went along and I now try to maintain a mixture of anger and other human qualities when I play the role.”
Admittedly, learning the roots of Kayako’s anger further stimulated Fuji in The Grudge 2. And, she adds, “Shimizu-san’s direction has changed with this movie. He has ideas that are always surprising me.”
Tamblyn, who shares a few scenes with Kayako’s ghost, eagerly sings her praises: “Off screen, Takako is this sweet, funny girl who wears glasses. Then, she comes on stage and she has these huge dark eyes. She has these wonderful facial expressions and this way of moving her body that is truly frightening.”
The character of Toshio is Kayako’s son, whom we learn in The Grudge was also brutally murdered. His appearance on screen often precedes his mother’s attacks. For the new film, Shimizu had to look for a new actor because his previous Toshio, Yuya Ozeki, had grown too tall. “If audiences noticed that Toshio’s ghost had grown up, it would take them out of the movie, so I had to find a new little boy. I had many auditions and was fortunate to find Ohga Tanaka.”
The eight-year-old Ohga Tanaka, who will be nine by the time the movie comes out, was enthusiastic about being chosen and had unique insight into his character. “Toshio just wants to make friends to play with. So when he appears suddenly, he grabs people’s hands. From my point of view, he’s not that scary. I feel sorry for him, because he was killed and left in the attic with his dead mother and his cat.”
As with Shimizu’s previous movies, The Grudge and the Ju-On series, The Grudge 2 will also have a genuinely shocking opening with the same gasp-quotient of the previous film (in which actor Bill Pullman inexplicably jumps out the window of his high- rise Tokyo apartment). Jennifer Beals is the focus on the opening sequence in this film and confesses that “the scene is really one of the primary reasons I wanted to do this film. It has one of those moments that people will always remember.”
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