Oscar award winning actress Hilary Swank gave a greeting from the stage on 23 October at the screening of You’re Not You in which she starred, which was given a special screening at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival. This is Swank’s second visit to Japan, the first time being 10 years ago.
Swank, who has been awarded an Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for Boys Don’t Cry (2000), and Million Dollar Baby (2005), has been sneaking over to see her fans before the festival opening, and spent about 5 minutes giving signatures and shaking hands. Whispering “I’ll be back”, she returned to her standby position for the event, and dazzled the venue with a beaming smile and a friendly demeanor.
On visiting Japan for the first time in 10 years, Swank says she is very excited to be back, and loves Tokyo. She revealed that she had already been to the Kabuki, saying that she thinks the costumes and the plays are wonderful, and that she had never seen anything quite like it. “I’ve seen a lot of different things in my time, but this is the first time I’ve found something so breathtaking”, showing just how moved she was.
Actress Meisa Kuroki also came along to show her support for Swank, having been a longstanding fan. “I am just a fan. I’m here to represent all the other fans!” she said, in front of her idol Swank, not able to hold back her excitement. About her current film, in which a friendship evolves between an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient played by Swank and another student from a women’s university, Kuroki said “I thought it was a wonderful film, and very heartwarming”, exchanging smiles with Swank.
In order to perfect her role as the main character who was gradually being eaten away by a disease, Swank says that “many people shared some very personal stories with me, and I took on the role intending to represent the stories of these patients”. She also said that “this is the first time a movie has ever talk about the reality of ALS in such a detailed way, which I think makes it a very important work”, giving a glimpse that this film should make a difference to public knowledge about intractable diseases.
Also as a producer of this film, she added “this is, simply, a film about powerful friendship and love. It makes an appeal to the importance of being yourself, just as you are, and is a story of repayment to those people that let us be ourselves. In a certain way, this story is also about love between two women, which is a story that is not seen very often”, giving powerful praise of the film.
You’re Not You is a humanistic drama that re-examines love, dreams, and living in your own way, through the meeting between a young woman Kate (Swank), who has been diagnosed with ALS, and the wild and free university student Bec (Emmy Rossum). George C. Wolfe from Nights in Rodanthe directed. The film will open nationwide on November 7 at Shinjuku Piccadilly in Tokyo and other locations. The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival runs until 31 October.
The news provided by eiga.com 
