Does anyone remember the name of the girl who played "Taka" in The Last Samurai? Been trying to remember her name today.

Koyuki. Apparently she only has one name.

You know. She’s got everything she needs. She doesn’t need another name.

She was quite an unforgettable character. :bow:

Yeah, she was really stunning. :cool:

She's definitely cuter in the movies than in real life.

Got a photo?

Not sure what you mean. What? Is she scared up? Missing an eye? Teeth?

Nothing is wrong with Koyuki but she looks prettier as "Taka" in the movie than in real life. You can type her name into a few search engines for other pictures. Here are a few:

http://www.fansites.com/gallery/showthumbs.asp?id=14385

unpleasant way.

I was surprised too see them do her character like that.

I was looking at a book of actual photos from that period in Japan. Most of the shots of the women had them much shorter and really petite. They almost looked like giant children.

Casting Koyuki as Taka was probably a decision made in Hollywood. She seems tall...but Tom Cruise is only about 5’10”, I think.

The story of this movie is good... but I still feel that tom cruise was not doing anything to act beyond his "persona" ..
I still see "tom cruise" the actor dressed in a samurai outfit, rather than a unique character ...

I think the only movie that I could really say I saw a character rather than a celebrity was in his movie "Born on the fourth of July"

He works with really good directors. You would think one of them would figger a way for him to go. Short of wearing a sack over his head.

I thought he was good in MINORITY REPORT, but that story was so interesting. Must be hell being Tom Cruise.

I think it's possible for fame to get in the way of an acting performance. TC is perhaps too visible, and too famous, in part because of Nicholle and in part because his personality is starting to dominate his screen presence.

I think he was pretty good in Last Samurai, but I admit that the character Nathan Algren was lost in the cult of personality that is Tom Cruise. Nathan Algren was not the Last Samurai - Tom Cruise was; which made it a little less believable. A great actor loses themself in the character they play. Ziyi can easily do that.

:D What about Ken Watanabe? I haven't seen the movie, but he's nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor. Did anyone think he did a good job?

Watanabe as the Great Lord Katsumoto was superb. There is no way you could convince he that he is not a Shogun warlord in real life!

The main thing that struck me about this film was how good the Japanese looked.

There was this thing about how diminished they looked once they became mecha’d up. The samruai looked really terrific. The newer, modern Japanese looked sort of shrimpy and dependent. They also couldn’t really think.

The samurai were beautiful. Watanabi’s son was terrific, too. They were educated in their way of life and dignified. Very pure. They made the Japanese look really cool.

Best thing about the film.

I think she's beautiful both in the movie and those linked-to photos.

Anyway, TC is not 5'10, actually only about 5'6. I've heard several times people talk about how he's surprisingly short in real life. Short being a relative term. His ex, Nicole is about 5'9 or '10.

I once saw one of those Behind The Music type documentaries, albeit for the movie Top Gun in this case. Kelly McGillis who played his love interest is about Nicole's height, but she said that for a lot of scenes, she had to slouch down or bend her legs down so she would appear at about eye level to Tom.