TRANSLATION FROM SANSPO.COM Go there and you'll see a picture too.

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because I know many of you were there and are mostly likely in this picture and would love to read about it.

"MatsuJun~" calls at American University Premiere of the movie "The Hidden Fortress"



[Los Angeles, CA 27th] The remake of Director Kurosawa Akira's "The Hidden Fortress THE LAST PRINCESS" (Director Higuchi Shinji, in theaters 5/10) with Arashi's Matsumoto Jun as the lead role, had a premiere at USC from which George Lucas graduated. Matsumoto was introduced it in English before the movie started, and was thrilled to see people's reactions. He commented positively about coming to the U.S. if he had a chance.
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"Jun!" Around 6:05PM, the theater was filled with screams and heated up as Matsumoto appeared. The people of Los Angeles were excited to see this movie remade after 50 years.

The event was held at the Ellen Norris Theater in USC. This was made possible because Director Lucas, a graduate of USC, gained a hint from Director Kurosawa's original movie to make "Star Wars."

300 people including 200 students from USC arrived. Outside were about 100 people who could not make it in the theater. The premiere featured Matsumoto and Director Higuchi, as well as a special guest Anthony Daniels (63) who played the role of C3PO in Star Wars.

Before the showing, Matsumoto nervously said "I am very honored to be a part of this premiere at the honorable University of Southern California," but naturally smiled as the audience laughed and applauded during the movie. He said "I almost wanted to be the first to stand up and say 'Yes!' I was very nervous to see how people would react, but I was very happy."

The movie is an action adventure in the historical times where a samurai and peasants try to get past the enemy while saving a princess and their gold. After the movie was a question session. Matsumoto commented "I think we received a positive reaction from because Japan was able to prove that we can create high quality action entertainment movies also."

According to Toho, the movie will be shown in Thai and Taiwan (not sure when yet). The U.S. and Europe is under negotiation.

As the movie is possibly to be shown world wide, Matsumoto says about acting in the U.S. that "There's nothing planned, but if I am able to work with an interesting script and staff, I would be willing to take the chance to work on it overcoming differences in language and culture." He promised to work on English, and was excited about possibilities of working worldwide.

+ Fan Club in the U.S., 36 members come to premiere

There is an original fan club for Arashi in the U.S. which includes several thousand members. It is named after the TBS variety show "Himitsu no Arashi-chan!" and is called "ARASHI Secret Agency," and was created about a month ago. On this day, 36 members came to the premiere. Fans grew after Matsumoto's drama "Hana Yori Dango" was aired. Miss Destini Jason (19) who came from Las Vegas commented that "Arashi is funny, sexy, and entertaining. They really value their fans." Matsumoto said that "I am very surprised and very happy to see that our products are known in the U.S. I hope to be able to pay them back somehow."

!!! That post just made me squeal a bit inside!! He hopes to repay his fans in the US?!?! THEN COME AND DO A CONCERT!!! haha I'm sos proud of the fans that went and represented all of us so well, and most of all I'm really glad that the Japanese media paid attention to them and didn't dismiss them as annoying fangirls or something. Ahh I'm so happy, it feels like an Arashi concert in the US is one step closer.

And speaking of the movie, I really really really hope that they decide to release it over here in the US.. I mean.. Japan gets our movies so quickly.. why can't we have theirs?! But even if not in theatres, I would love to see it on DVD here in the US ^_^

Thanks so much for sharing!! ^_^

Oh my gosh That's so amazing!
I was like going crazy reading that, thank you for posting XD

If it comes out in theaters, I'd go see it everyday :|
Though, i'm in New Jersey, but I'd travel to NY to see it XD

I REALLY hope they show it in theaters in the US, although it won't really guarantee that if it's shown in US it'll be shown in Canada but their should be a pretty high percentage... maybe, I think..hopefully? *is clueless*

Ah... even if it's only shown in the US I'd go down their and get the DVD when it's released.

I personally enjoyed the movie a lot. The special effects were amazing (a lot of things reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, not the least of which was the music), but the acting by the three male leads really pulled it all together.

Jun totally pulled off being the rogue Takezo (and a poor, dirty person! *gasp*) and had some pretty cool fight scenes. Of course, there's lots of close-ups of him (and his fake beard and fakely-messed up teeth), and you can see he throws himself completely into character, doing stuff that I'm sure he would never do as "Matsujun". (Although, when Takezo laughs, you can see Do-S Jun very clearly, haha. Takezo is kind of Do-S to Daisuke-san's character [see below].)

Daisuke Miyagawa, who plays the other "poor" person, Shinpachi, was HILARIOUS. He would make me laugh even in really heavy, dramatic scenes, because he'd be in the back making faces. I'm sure it was on purpose because the director said himself he wanted to make a "happy" feeling movie. If Takezo and Shinpachi were a comedy duo (which they are in the movie), Takezo is the straight man and Shinpachi is the "dumb" one who gets hit all the time.

I think I was most surprised by Hiroshi Abe kicking total butt. He gets to wield a sword as the samurai Rokurota, and looms over all of the other characters due not only to his physical height but also to his intimidating nature. His glare is really scary.

Masami-san was a typical "princess" - I wish her character had been more consistent, but I won't give anything away Basically, I think she acted well, but was outshone by the male actors.

Also, the theme song by "The Three" (Kreva is the vocalist) really rocked. All in all, if you get a chance to see it, I would recommend you to do so!

Was it really awesome? Do you know if they'll show it in the US anywhere else?

I really don't know if the film is going to shown anywhere in the US, I imagine Toho is in talks with US distributors to get them to at least show in indie filmhouses.

The movie is essentially an action movie, with lots of comedy and some romance involved. It's got a simple story (which I will summarize below), REALLY good special effects, and good acting. So I guess I can say it was "really amazing", LOL.

Here's a summarized version of Toho's summary of the movie (an English-translation pamphlet was handed out at the theatre, so I am typing some phrases from that). JUST TO BE SAFE, I shall say there are possible spoilers for the first 15 minutes of the movie.

The story is set during the provincial wars in Japan, when warlords ruled and there was no way to bring peace to the country. Three provinces bordered on each other - Akizuki, which was small but wealthy; Yamana, which was mountainous, poor, but ambitious; and Hayakawa, the largest region, which bordered on the ocean and was prosperous. Yamana, running out of its resources, decides to attack Akizuki and succeeds in burning its castle. However, the heir to the throne was not recovered in the ruins of the castle, and neither was Akizuki's hidden war fund of gold. If Akizuki managed to transport its heir and its riches to their ally Hayakawa, then Yamana's efforts to take over the other two provinces would fail.

Takezo and Shinpachi are two poor Yamana villagers forced into labor by the Yamana samurai. They escape and accidentally find the gold of Akizuki. Threatened by the samurai Rokurota and the disguised Akizuki princess Yuki, they come up with the plan for the princess and the gold to sneak into the province of Hayakawa by going through the enemy territory of Yamana. A desperate and dangerous adventure has begun.

(That last sentence is SO NOT MINE.)

Mods, if this isn't allowed (or is starting to get off topic), please let me know