For his first English-language film, The Grudge, director Shimizu was able to gather a strong cast of prominent young American actors as well as seasoned veterans including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Clea DuVall, Grace Zabriskie, Rosa Blasi, William Mapother, Ted Raimi and, in a key cameo, Bill Pullman. The actors were drawn to the project for a variety of reasons, including the unique subject matter, the director’s compelling vision and the opportunity to work in Japan.
Coming off a seven-year stint in the wildly successful TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” Sarah Michelle Gellar assumed the role of the central character, Karen. ”The fact that Sam Raimi placed such trust in Takashi Shimizu, though he’d never made an American film before and spoke no English, demonstrated to me an incredible amount of belief in his talent,” observes Gellar. “Knowing that, I really had to be involved. And as an actor, it really made me want to rise to the occasion. I love to be scared and, to me, the original JU-ON is a perfect example of that experience.”
Jason Behr, who assumed the role of Karen’s boyfriend Doug, 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.”
Veteran actor Bill Pullman has a cameo that will surprise audiences when they first see him. But that was only part of the reason he wanted to be involved in The Grudge. ”I’m always intrigued by a new situation, where somebody’s doing things differently,” says Pullman. “The Grudge had that and so much more. When I saw JU-ON, I thought this guy knows how to make something happen on film with a very clean style, very specific and artful. Then when I learned that it was going to be shot in Japan using the Japanese model of production, right down to the crew and craft services, I was sold. It was the kind of filmmaking experience I’d never had before.”
Grace Zabriskie, perhaps best known from her role in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” also relished the opportunity to work in Japan. “It has always been in the back of my mind as some place I would love to see, so that was part of my decision,” says Zabriskie. “But a large part of my response was to the script, which was genuinely scary. I had watched the original JU-ON and I thought the English-language script was in some ways even better. So there was no way I could say no.”
William Mapother, who won acclaim for his bad guy role in the Oscar®-nominated independent feature In the Bedroom, was also taken with the original film. “I was excited to learn it would be remade by the same director because JU-ON scared the heck out of me.”
Director Takashi Shimizu speaks only a few words of English, which producer Ichise cites as a key factor in the decision to shoot the film in Japan. “It is definitely an English-language movie, with a great script and terrific American actors. But it will have a wonderful Japanese flavor to it.”
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