英語と映画

Vol. 2 : スパイダー・マン2

7月6日、監督のサム・ライミを迎えて、『スパイダー・マン2』の記者会見が都内のホテルで行なわれました。2002年に作品が発表されてから、8億2,000万ドルの興行収入をあげるほど観客を沸かせてきたスパイダー・マン。以下でその一部を紹介します！

Q: The film broke records by earning $180 million （&3165;19.6 billion） in its first six days in North America. How do you feel about this?

A: I'm flabbergasted.

Q: After the success of the first Spider-Man movie, what was it like trying to make a film that lived up to everyone's expectations?

A: I did feel the pressure at first, I felt so much pressure just trying to please the fans. But then I thought, I really don't know how to make a movie to satisfy others. What I have to do is find out what I liked about the first picture. That was not the bigness or the loudness, but the characters. So I decided to make the second film a much more intimate portrait of Peter Parker, his love for Mary Jane Watson and his journey towards responsibility.

Q: What was one of the most memorable moments of making the film?

A: The strangest thing for me was watching Aunt May, played by Rosemary Harris, doing wire stunts. I had fully expected to use a stunt woman, because Rosemary Harris is probably around 75 years old. But she said, "No, Sam, I'll do my own stunts." I said, "I don't think you know what kind of stunt this is. It isn't fainting, this is being strung around in a wire and dropped hundreds of feet." But she said, "I'm ready for it." So we hooked her into the harness, and I held my breath because I was terrified what might happen to her. She got yanked out of the frame as Doc. Ock dropped her down toward the street and she dropped a number of stories. And then I heard her shout, "Let's do it again." She was really a trooper.

Q: When you were a kid, what was your favorite comic book hero?

A: When I was very young, I liked the Superman comic books that they have in the United States of America. Then when I was a little bit older, when I was 9 years old, I liked Batman. Maybe around 10, I started to read Spiderman comics. They were a little more complex and they were my favorite at that time. I don't think any character has really replaced Spiderman in my heart, except .in the '70s, DC Comic Books had The Shadow and that was a great run of stories and illustrations.

Q: What do you think about Japanese comic books?

I'm learning about the great Japanese comic book industry. I'm so impressed by it, the wonderful artists, the extraordinary work. It's light years ahead of the United States. I'm a giant fan of comic books, so at this point I can appreciate the illustrations a lot.

Of the few I saw yesterday, the one that I really loved was GANTZ. I met the artist and the writer, who is very intelligent and sweet. I was very impressed with his style, it was very clean and direct and very powerful. There was no excess in his illustrations. In addition, he approached the story in a very cinematic way, much more so than an American illustrator would have done. I never realized until I read this comic book that comic books could have a sense of pace. You'd think they can't, because they are just illustrations. But the way he broke up the frames suggested pace — he has this wide shot, looking down onto this sleeping girl, which has a predatory feel to it. Then, he comes in closer. It was as though the unseen thing was approaching. In the next frame, he comes in closer still and finally a hand comes into the frame. It's growing in intensity. And then he has a tiny little frame of the moment when the girl's eye opens. He just shows the eye, that's all. Then the next panel is wide, the reveal. It was a beautiful structure. It was unlike anything that I'd seen.

Q: At one point in the film, you use Burt Bacharach's "Raindrops are falling on my head." Why did you choose that song?

At that point in the movie, Peter Parker has tried to lead a responsible life, even at the expense of his personal life, his happiness, his loving relationship with a girlfriend, the ability to make a living, his education, the well-being of his aunt, all according to his sense of duty to others, and he's miserable. The pressure becomes so great that he finally says, "I can't be Spider-Man" any more, I can't live under this great yoke of responsibility." And he throws out his suit. And then he celebrates his own happiness. He's going to realize that living a life of self-fulfillment is a life of moral decay. He cannot deny his responsibility toward others. So the reason that we have that track at the point in the movie is because it has a sweet sound, it embraces Peter's sense of happiness, but underneath is a sadness, because we wanted to convey that this was not real fulfillment, just a surface experience.