Jennifer Merin Interviews Rob Marshall

After Chicago's phenomenal success, first-time director Rob Marshall wanted time off to decide what to do for his second feature. But during the Oscars hubbub, he was approached about directing Memoirs of a Geisha.

"When the producers first called, I couldn't even focus on it. But they kept sending me sake, antique prints of geisha and books about Japan." says Marshall. "It was hard to turn away from. I was fascinated by Geisha-and very moved by the central story about the child sold into slavery."

Merin: Although they're very different, both Chicago and Geisha involve rivalries between strong women.

Marshall: It's interesting you say that. When I was in Japan at the geisha theatre, and they were showing me how their lift worked, I flashed on Catherine Zeta-Jones rising from the floor in Chicago. It dawned on me that I'd traveled around the world to do something completely different, yet was doing another movie about rival women in show business.

Merin: What about Geisha drew you to the project?

Marshall: I connect with geisha as artists. Geisha means artist. And I connect to their discipline-they're moving works of art, they train unbelievably hard, work incredible hours. I found it a combination of beauty and cruelty. It's fascinating that they live in a secret, hidden world of beauty and cruelty, and that all the geisha houses are run by women-even in the '20s and '30s when this movie takes place. So there's a sense that this is a female business-which is unexpected. It's a peek into a different world, a different culture-one that is unique and has no equivalent elsewhere.

Merin: Geisha opens with two girls being sold by their families. Do you think there are parallels to today's world?

Marshall: Perhaps in some way, but I think there's a truth to the movie in terms of when it took place-beginning in 1929, when girls were sold to geisha houses. They left their parents and got a geisha mother.

That's how it worked. Today, geisha are different. Girls choose to become geisha, but they can't begin their studies until they're 16. It's like teenagers choosing ballet or modeling school. Back then, the girls were sold. Actually, I found the novel to be Dickensian, like David Copperfield or Oliver Twist.

The movie's about four women in this situation: Sayuri flows like the water in her eyes, survives and finds love. Mameha puts her heart on ice and becomes the perfect geisha. "We don't become geisha to pursue our own destinies, we become geisha because we have no choice," she says. Hatsumomo, the tragic villain, self-destructs. Pumpkin, the failed geisha, becomes a prostitute.

Merin: You say the world of geisha is uniquely Japanese, yet you cast Chinese actresses as the leads. Why?

Marshall: We had casting directors all over the world, and my hope as a director was that an actor would walk in and claim the role. Casting Sayuri, for instance, was challenging. She not only had to be a great actor that could carry a film, aging from 15 to 35; she had to speak English, be a brilliant dancer and be able to learn to become a geisha in six weeks.

An actor like Ziyi Zhang happens once in a generation. She's 26, extraordinary on every level. There was no question-she was Sayuri. Michelle Yeoh has incredible elegance, warmth and wisdom-and claimed the role of Mameha. Gong Li is one of the greatest actors in the world-and it's pretty much that simple. I knew Hatsumomo is the hardest role, because it could easily become a one-dimensional bitch who plays evil for evil sake. And with Gong Li, I have a three-dimensional actor who helped me find the reason why she's the way she is and make her full-blooded.

Merin: Were you concerned about authenticity?

Marshall: Of course. But this is a fable. To remind you of that, we placed our story in the fictional town of Miyako, instead of Kyoto. But I wanted to enter this fictional world in an authentic way, like we're peering into it. Throughout the movie, we shot scenes through silk to give a feeling that we're peering into a unique, hidden world.

Merin: With Geisha and Chicago, both adapted from other work, how responsible do you feel to be true to original materials?

Marshall: With Geisha, I loved the novel and felt great responsibility to bring it to life in a way that honored [novelist] Arthur Golden's vision, realized his dream. Of course, it has to be different.? But I wanted the same feel, the same beauty Arthur captured.? Arthur was quite involved with the film, and he's told me he thinks we got it right.