I'm excited for this to come out! I read it about 5 yrs ago and am rereading it right now. It's about time they made a movie out of it.. but they have to be omitting a ton! the book is long and i don't think they could do the whole book in about a 2 hr. time frame. Nevertheless, I will see it night of well weekend of

That's easy for you to say. Are you Japanese?

Eh, I'm sure if the movie lacks, it won't be for the fact that they opted for big name Chinese actors.

Yea I know they're actors and they're suppose to play different parts/people so ethnicity shouldn't matter blah blah blah. But come on, from what I see in the trailer, the movie is set in Japan, with Japanese charchters yet nobody is speaking Japanese. The books was originally written in English but come on, this is a film about a Japanese person, in Japan... If you wanted to give your film some authentic Japanese credibility then make them speak some Japanese. Even The Last Samurai made the audience read some subtitles. I'd be a bit more convinced by the casting of Chinese actors if the Chinese actors were required to learn and speak alot of Japanese in the film. This isn't a case, of an actor becoming their charachter, when the filmakers just opted for them not to actually speak like their charachter would. I guess we'll see how that turns out... Though I'm pretty sure nobody will care.

But what am I saying? Who needs authenticity these days, this is Hollywood... Let's just spice up the Geisha dance and have her just fly wildly around the stage.

And yes, when I was watching the trailer in the theatre and suddenly saw Ziyi Zhang glorious standout Chinese star as Ziyi Zhang the new Japanese, it did effect the trailer/movie for me.

1) No, I am not Japanese. However, Zhang Ziyi wasn't the one who jumped on board after hearing about this film being made. She auditioned like every other person did.
2) It may not show in the movie, but the actors HAD to learn Japanese. In order to try to get into the culture, they had to learn Japanese, among other things.
3)Of course it's Hollywood. The dance does play a good part of the story, so could you really blame them for focusing on it?

I'm never said she just jumped into the role, so I'm wondering exactly what argument of mine that was countering... I was simply pointing out the obvious. I was just saying that casting a Chinese person as a Japanese person, but not actually having them speak Japanese (thus not being a very credible/believable Japanese person), will matter to the point "of affecting the movie." (thus coutering your argument).

I didn't say they didn't learn any Japanese. Hell, anyone can go to Japan for a day and learn to say a word or two. I'm saying it was a poor decision to not actually have them speak any Japanese in the film.

And to #3. I was referring to the fact that Geisha dances aren't really like that (flying wildy across stage), not to how they decided to focus on the dance... It was a subtle sarcastic/satirical add in to expose one of the additional falsities of this hollywood film, which in turn matter to the point "of affecting the movie."

Your statement was "I don't think it matters to the point of affecting the movie..." (referring to them casting a Chinese actor). And my statement is simply, "Yes it will effect the movie. It will effect the Japanese authenticity of the movie because they hired a Chinese actress but didn't actually have her speak Japanese like her charachter would."

I realize this is a Hollywood movie, most of the audience won't care about these things, and it doesn't look like a bad film otherwise. But I'm saying that yes... it can effect the film for people even if it doesn't effect the film for you.

OK.
I'm just gonna end this talk, because I don't want it to become something big.
I see your points, and I see mine as well. Which is good enough.

I think that an even poorer decision would be to split the spoken language for the sake of a superficial "authenticity". How could they justify that: taking the English (supposed Japanese) and, for no particular reason, making them speak actual Japanese? It would only succeed in the jarring the general audience.

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Actually, they do. Just not with all of their customers. The successful geisha become a mistress of an aristocrat or rich business man who takes care of their expenses.

I'm still reading the book and I'm enjoying it very much. I'm interested to see the movie although I was a bit confused that Zyi Zhang was cast as Sayuri. I think she's a great actress but that's like casting a Spainard in a Mexican role. But whatever, it's not that important to me.

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There is only one Return and it's not of the King, it's of the Jedi.

Well, about actually speaking Japanese, its not an Japanese film, it just is set within that particular culture. So I understand why its in english.
Second, at least they're not casting a white actor as Japanese. I wouldn't put that past Hollywood. They used to dress white men up as black men early on so that they could add racist comments to their stories.
Ever see Birth of a Nation? Then you know.
Thirdly, I'm just happy to see a rise of Asian actresses who aren't forced to do some kung fu crap for every movie. We need more Asian stars besides Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan.
And, well, Jennifer Lopez got away with playing Selena, I think Zhang Ziyi may be a decent choice for Sayuri. But I'll have to see the movie to know for sure.

Right, sorry, it slipped my mind that geisha's do have sex with their "dannas". lol according to the book, a danna is the term that a wife uses for her husband back in those days. Geisha's never marry though. It's an interesting tradition. :P