Tao Okamoto (Mariko) And Rila Fukushima (Yukio) Discuss Their Roles In THE WOLVERINE

Well, I was very worried because I never took any acting lessons, ever. So, I asked him, "What should I do?" He said, "Don’t take any lessons or any advice from others." Because he thought I had some good sense and instincts. I just trusted him and I just listened to only him. He just gave me everything I needed. I was freaking out before but now I’m very confident working with him. It’s just great.

I think that the similarity I have with her is that she doesn’t have a normal life and I used to have a very difficult childhood when I was little because I was always like the tallest girl in the school and everybody was staring at me like, "You’re very different." You know? I was struggling at the time and it’s a very different subject but still, she’s trying to find her place in her life. Meeting Logan later on, finding herself, what she wants to have in her life – I think I have a lot of similarity in my life.

Actually, he told me a lot of things like – because I didn’t know anything about little system tricks and things. I didn’t even know how the camera was going to shoot. If I’m on camera that’s fine but if I’m off camera, I didn’t know what to do. So he told me, "Oh, you have to stand close to the camera as much as you can to make the eye line for me." I didn’t understand, first of all, because I’ve never done it but he told me very carefully and appreciate because I’m speaking English as a second language. Sometimes I find it’s very difficult to understand things but he’s very patient and listened to me, teach me and it’s just wonderful.

It’s so impressive, it’s perfect, I’m so interested in all the set designs. It’s just so amazing. I keep saying, "I want to do one of the set designer." I was asking the people, "Would you hire me?"

My character, Yukio, is working for Master Yashida. That’s the funeral for Master Yashida, so I basically travel to find Logan and bring him to Japan, working for Master Yashida. Yukio is an orphan assassin.

Actually, Yukio has such a great style in the whole film. The costume designer insisted, I think she did an amazing work. I’m pretty sure you guys saw the graphic novel version of Wolverine and I look a little different from the original character. But I think now it’s 2012 and I guess people are trying to make the new version of Yukio. I’m pretty sure there is a similarity from the graphic novels, at the same time there’s a completely different side of Yukio too. I don’t know how much I can talk about the character but that’s something – the story is definitely different from the original comic. Hopefully people can enjoy the different version.

Talked to Jim and talked to Hugh, also read the script. But I’m trying not to think too much about how to become a character and I’m still really new to acting. This is the first time to join filming, so I’m trying – Yukio is very physical so a lot of things took long but it’s a lot of fun. It has been a very amazing and challenging experience. I’m having a lot of fun.

Hugh is wonderful and he’s super wonderful to work with and he’s super professional, and super nice to everybody, super gentleman. It’s really interesting to see how Hugh spends [time] between the takes. I actually learned how to eat more, because he does stunts a lot and eats every couple hours trying to keep his energy up. Every time I look at him, he’s eating or exercising. I don’t do weights between waiting but I’m eating every three hours trying to keep my energy up, and do a little bit of exercising trying to build my muscle. I actually got – I hope I can show you guys – but I got a little muscle. People are kind of like, "Ooh."