GANTZ press conference

Not only were the stars of “GANTZ” excited to wear the characteristic GANTZ body suit, their cast members were too, it was revealed at the film’s press conference in Tokyo on 5th August, reports Eiga.com, Mainichi Shinbum Digital, and Oricon.

Arashi’s Ninomiya Kazunari (27), Matsuyama Kenichi (25), and the cast of sci-fi film “GANTZ” talked about working on the film.

The press conference was also watched live by 2000 fans in Hibiya park, central Tokyo.

Nino and Matsuyama play two friends, Kurono Kei and Kato Masaru, who die in a train accident, but are then mysteriously recalled back along with several other dead people to hunt down and kill aliens. The movie is a live action version of the manga series of the same name, which has to date sold more than 11 million copies and also has a large fan base in Europe.

All of the cast members had revealed that they were big fans of the manga before production. Nino said that this had given him some problems during filming. “I thought that if we were going to do a live action version, we should do it properly. “But (as an actor) I couldn’t talk about how the movie should be directed, and that made me a little sad. But I put everything I could into this movie,” he said.

The member of boyband Arashi had said the characteristic GANTZ body suit, which cost 500,000 yen to make, was the centre of attention throughout the filming. “There was a lot of waiting time (during filming) so people who didn’t wear the suit would be playing around and trying it on. I’m talking about (co-star) Yoshitaka-san.”

A shocked Yoshitaka Yuriko was fast to explain herself. “Why did you bring that up now!? I thought everyone had gone home so I thought this was my chance and tried it on. But then, Ninomiya-san hadn’t gone home yet."

“But when I put it on it was more revealing than I had imagined…and I threw it off because I got embarrassed,” she said.

Currently in post-production, film producer Sato Takahiro said he wants to create a movie that could compete with Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”. He also added that the female body suit actress Natsuna wears outlines her womanly figure clearly. Nino quickly responded by saying, “You’re making it sound like this is a pervert movie! It’s science fiction”.

Nino also said that being a fan had created other problems in his private life. “When I heard rumours it would be turned into a live action movie I was excited, but when I heard I would be starring in it I got a little depressed. “It means I can’t talk about it a lot with my GANTZ fan friends,” he said.

The star said one of the reasons why he had taken up the role was because of his co-star. “I was concerned about who would play Kato. But they told me they were thinking of Matsuyama-san and I just went, ‘If Matsuyama-san’s involved, I want to be a part of this’,” he said.

Matsuyama could not hold back a smile at the remark “I feel very privileged to hear Ninomiya-san speak of me like that. I couldn’t think of anyone else to play Kurono but Ninomiya-san as well,” he said.

With a budget of 40 billion yen and filming which had taken almost six months to finish, film director Sato Shinsuke Sato said he wanted to create a movie that would not simply be a copy of the manga, but something that could stand on its own. (MomoEdgewood's Mediawatch)