Interview with Actress Mizuki Yamamoto on the Movie Black Butler

FEATURED
Dec. 20, 2013 18:26 PST

We interviewed Mizuki Yamamoto, an actress appearing in the movie Black Butler.

––Could you tell us about your encounter with Black Butler?

Mizuki Yamamoto: I was a big fan of the original manga series. There was a time in junior high when I was addicted to Square Enix 1 manga, and that’s when I came across Black Butler. When the first volume came out, I saw the cover and thought, “This is cool!” and I bought it solely for that reason. So I’m kind of attached to Black Butler.

––So you say you like manga. I also heard that you like to cosplay, is that true?

MY: Yes. I started cosplaying in my freshman year of high school. It came about from how out of place I felt when my friend invited my to a live event with Shoko Nakagawa and everyone around us was dressed in cosplay and we were the only ones in regular clothing. We decided that for the next live event we would wear cosplay too! And that was my motivation for starting cosplay. Up until now, I’ve done cosplay of Hatsune Miku and characters from PreCure, Strawberry Panic, Rozen Maiden, MadoMagi, Creamy Mami, and K-On.

––How did you feel about appearing in the movie?

MY: When I first heard about this job, I was told it was a fighter girl’s role, and that it’s based on a shoujo manga. I thought that maybe it was Sailor Moon. But then, when I heard that it would be a Black Butler adaptation with gun-toting action, I couldn’t imagine it right away and I was at a loss for words. I didn’t think that I could do action in a movie, but since I like action movies, I got super excited when they told me.

To me, the beloved manga world was a territory out of reach. I do like cosplay, but cosplay is kind of arbitrary. However, the role I play, Rin the maid, is based on a character named Mey-Rin from the original manga. Plus, Rin is an official character approved by the original author, Yana Toboso, and although taking that position makes me very happy, it also comes with pressure.
While I thought I’d have to be faithful to the Mey-Rin character part from the original manga, I also thought that I should take a self-expressing, more modern approach.

––Did you have any problems in playing Rin the maid?

MY: We had a hard time deciding with the staff members on what shape Rin’s glasses, one of her trademarks, should be. Although Mey-Rin wears round glasses in the original manga, wearing those kind of glasses in a live-action movie feels odd, so we decided on lower frame-only glasses, which are currently very popular in Akiba and have some moe feeling to them. The maid dress was custom made by a tailor, and I could feel at ease that no matter how big of movements I made, my underwear would never show. It was easy to move in. For the poses, I practised in front of a mirror to see what would look cool. It was vastly different from the model posing for fashion magazines that I usually do. The action poses were the real practical experience. For example, holding a gun with fully stretch arms might look cooler, but in reality, holding it a bit loosely will buffer the kickback. And just like that, rather than thinking about the camera, I was seeking reality when moving.

––Tell us about the intense action.

MY: Although I like exercising and ball games, I’m not very flexible and I’m not very good at dancing, either. At first, an action movie actor showed me a video of my scene, saying, “This is how it’s done.” Looking at that hard action, I thought, “There’s no way I can do this!” Practise starts from floor exercises, but I’m very bad at those. I can do a forward roll, but I can’t even do a backward one. My muscles would hurt right after starting the exercises; it was very hard. On the scene, the action director was easy to get along with, so I could concentrate and there were no injuries during the shooting.

Looking at my very own action scenes, I thought those two months of action training were worthwhile. I’m happy that my hard work took shape. Although I had a lot of worries in the beginning, I’d like to challenge myself in another movie role if I am offered such a role. I’m eager to hear about the reactions of the viewers of this movie on what they think of my action.

––Thank you very much.