Beyond Fest 2025 Interview: Meiko Kaji Talks Scorpion, Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock, and the Refreshing Nature of Wearing a Costume, As Her Career Turns 60
Scorpion. Snowblood. Stray Cat Rock. Meiko Kaji is a singular screen presence, her impact piercing through time, across nations and homages, and into our collective cinephile consciousness. To interview her is an exciting and formidable proposition.
Kaji is warm and lively in conversation. We speak in the midst of a series of screenings at Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque, where she is being honoured with a series of special presentations and Q&A events. It is the Japanese genre film legend's first appearance on the North American stage.
It's lovely to meet you. It's such a great honor to speak with you about your work. Your films were very pivotal to my appreciation of Japanese cinema, so it's a real pleasure.
Meiko Kaji: Thank you, the honor's all mine. This is actually the 60th anniversary of my career, and to be here - it's an event that I will never forget.
You're a singular presence on screen. Your signature stare is naturally very frequently brought up in discussion of your work, but that stare is sharp. It always feels like the focal point of the frame. What's it like for you as a performer to enter into a shot on set and become that focal point, that nucleus?
The day before filming begins, I'm always quite nervous and can't get to sleep. Oftentimes, you won't know which scene you'll be starting with. I'm nervous on the first day, and to this day that hasn't changed.
Could you tell me about your on-set process, and your working relationship with directors such as Hasebe and Ito in relation to that command of the screen? When you were filming together, who did it feel truly had the control and command of the character - the director, or you, the star?
It really depends on who I'm working with. Some directors can be quite particular, and do many takes when something isn't done the way that they envision. Some simply ask me to give it a try. I'm mindful to prepare a repertoire of approaches before arriving at the set so that I can handle any kind of request.
Do you view your characters as being somewhat disparate, or do you feel you have a unified screen persona across your films?
I think people see the commonality because they're all action dramas, but it's all a joy for me to take on.
How close to your actual self would you say your screen persona is?
I think it's very different from my real self. I'm completely different in my private life. I'm not often asked to take on roles that are similar to my true self, but as a performer I think I much prefer to take on roles that are completely opposite from who I am in real life.
The reason is that when I take on roles that are similar to myself, I feel a bit of resistance. I start to question - well, would I really say this? When I take on roles that are very opposite of who I am in my private life, it's much more fun to imagine things - I think that is the joy and fun of being an actor.
It strikes me that - for many of your international audiences - their first introduction to you was through other works that nodded to your films through homage and pastiche - films such as KILL BILL and LOVE EXPOSURE. Thanks to the efforts of distributors such as Arrow Video, your defining films themselves have now become more widely available for international audiences to enjoy, and there's been a new surge of appreciation for you and your work. What's it been like for you to witness this?
I've been thinking about this. A lot of those works were made nearly 50 years ago. I could never have imagined while making these films that they would have this lifespan. To be honest, I'm really not sure what to make of it - I'm not sure what the draw is.
You've been very selective with roles in recent years, projects such as UNDER THE OPEN SKY, WHAT DID YOU EAT YESTERDAY?, and the Netflix live-action adaptation of YU YU HAKUSHO. What attracts you to a project these days when you're offered something?
Oftentimes when I read a script, I'll feel that the role is not something that I'm particularly good at - but I'll still feel drawn to it because I want to take on that adventure, that challenge - because I know that it will bring me more things that are new and fresh in future.
For example, when I took on the role of Scorpion. The director of the first Scorpion film was resistant to making the female prisoners wear something formulaic, so he asked me to come up with the costume - the very impressionistic garb that the female prisoners wear. Coming up with that costume was part of the role making for me. Even the black hat and black coat that you see in those last scenes - I actually picked those out from a department store off the rack. I've come up with the costume myself for most of my leading roles, and it's the same when I go on tour - I do my own wardrobe.
What I can say is this: I know that by continuing to take on refreshing roles, it inspires the filmmakers and producers that I work with to think "Okay, why don't we let Kaji try this next time?". I always go into a project with the expectation that it will broaden my horizons.
Meiko Kaji appeared at Beyond Fest, her debut U.S. appearance. With thanks to Marie Iida for interpreting and Yuki Fujiwara for additional translation.
