Were there temptations to overly Americanise it?
No, the reason I made this film was because it was Japanese. This is the first time that a Japanese film has ever been remade for an English-speaking audience with the original Japanese director. I loved that about it. One of the reasons why this genre works so well in Japan is because it comes from such an emotional place. It comes from these very serious beliefs that they have on existentialism and life, and it was really important to us that we didn’t Americanise it. We only did it when it was absolutely necessary for the purpose of understanding the film. What differences did you notice working with director Takashi Shimizu, and the whole experience of Japanese filmmaking? The amazing thing about him is that he’s a man who speaks no English, but is able to create this mood and this feeling on-set. American films are so used to CGI, but when you see that hand on my head in the shower I guess you assume it’s CGI. But everything they do is real. There was another woman playing Kayako,
