和君の演技：絶賛！！

２８日にアメリカの雑誌に出た和君の特写が、今日日本の記事に出たよ！！！やっと！！和君の演技が素晴らしい、ようなことを書いてくれて、ありがたい！！！

米ロサンゼルス・タイムズ紙が２８日付で、映画「硫黄島からの手紙」でハリウッドデビューした二宮和也（２３）の特集記事を掲載した。

二宮や所属する嵐について紹介、「二宮の表情は完ぺきで、壊れてしまいそうな、まさにイーストウッド監督が伝えたかった戦争の犠牲者の無念さを表している」と絶賛した。当初は別の役でオーディションを受けたが、同監督がほれ込み、物語のカギを握る兵士役に選んだ秘話も紹介されている。アカデミー賞候補入りは逃したが、米国内での二宮の評価は高い。

すごい！！

Well, many of you may have already read some blogs which put up the Kazu Special Feature in LA Times on 28th Jan. Today this was mentioned in Japan and translated for the Japanese.....

In brief, the Americans (editor) feel that Kazu's facial expressions are perfectly done, like something that is going to be broken soon..... This is very well-utilized by Clint Eastwood in trying to express the regret/resentment of those victims in this war.... Seems that Kazu had actually done his audition for ANOTHER role in the movie but because Clint Eastwood has fallen in love with his acting, he was put to take on the KEY role in the movie... Although he did not get nominated in the Academy Award personally, there is high appraisal for him in the USA.

Yatta ne, Kazu!!!!

This is an abstract from LA Times for you:

KAZUNARI Ninomiya's face is unblemished, almost fragile, a porcelain slate of innocence onto which director Clint Eastwood projects the emotional toll of war in "Letters From Iwo Jima." Ninomiya plays Saigo, an apolitical baker conscripted into the doomed defense of the island, fighting not for the generals or the emperor but only to survive and return to his wife and infant daughter. Through his eyes we see battle, its cynicism, fear, the hatreds and pity. An unknown actor to American audiences, his face was perfect for Eastwood's Everyman.

"There's a real personality to his acting," says Rieko Miyamoto, the show's director. "He can act with his mouth and his eyes." So Ninomiya was an obvious candidate when Eastwood sent out a casting call to Japanese actors for "Letters From Iwo Jima." In addition to his talent, the studio calculated that Ninomiya's J-pop aura might drag a younger crowd to the box office, a tactic that has paid off to some degree, though Warner Bros. exit figures still show that the bulk of the movie's Japanese audience is in its late 30s to early 50s.

Audition tapes were sent across the Pacific to the late Phyllis Huffman, the casting director who had been a longtime Eastwood collaborator. Johnny's had another of its stars in mind for the Saigo role and Ninomiya was originally cast as Private Shimizu, the idealistic military policeman sent to Iwo Jima as punishment for showing mercy toward civilians. But Eastwood had not settled on his Saigo, and the director asked Ninomiya to read again for that part.