SUBMITTED BY pimpjoe_esb

May 10, 2007 —

For the last few months, rumors have been flying around the net about Oscar-nominated Japanese actor Ken Watanabe playing the role of the Silver Samurai in the "Wolverine" prequel currently in the works, which seemed like a rather obvious bit of typecasting if it were true. (Watanabe already played the Asian villain in 2005's Batman Begins.) When SuperHero! Hype spoke to Watanabe about his Japanese drama "Memories of Tomorrow," which opens in New York on May 18, he hadn't heard anything about these rumors nor had he been contacted about playing the role.

"You know, I did two hard movies recently, 'Memories of Tomorrow' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima,'" he told us, "and they were something I gave everything to as an actor, so I'm a bit wiped out right now, and so I can't find the next film." Though he did add that he would like to continue doing movies in Hollywood despite the success he found with "Memories" in Japan last year.

For more of the interview, click the link below.