Wah...gue kan suka banget sama Memoir of a Geisha Arthur Golden, nah...ternyata buku itu mau dibuat film sama...Steven Spielberg!! dan..salah satu pemainnya orang Indonesia!! dia bakal main jadi Pumpkin, sahabatnya Sayuri. Dan...dia juga akan main di film-nya Martin Scorsese!! Gila ya..pendatang baru dari Indonesia langsung kerja sama dengan 2 orang besar ini..Hebat!! Ini, cuplikan berita yang gue dapet dari Asiaweek
Casting Julyana Soelistyo
Trying out for a role before movie icon Steven Spielberg has turned even the best-prepared hopefuls into splutterers and mutterers. But 20-something Indonesian actress Julyana Soelistyo says she had none of those problems - possibly because she had already read for a part with another Hollywood heavyweight, Martin Scorsese. "Auditioning with Martin helped me relax with Steven," she told Asiaweek. It also probably didn't do any harm that Medan-born, Penang-educated Soelistyo received a Tony award nomination for her part in David Henry Hwang's Golden Child, her Broadway debut this year. Both filmmakers noticed her in that production. Scorsese cast her in the drama Bringing Out the Dead, which begins shooting next month. He also rewrote her part to increase her screen time from one scene to three. Spielberg - whose blockbuster Saving Private Ryan is now in release in Asia - offered her a part in his coming adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha. Soelistyo recalls: "After the screen test, Steven gave me a hug and said, 'I want you on board.'" Soelistyo was given the role of Pumpkin, a geisha apprentice and best friend to the lead, played by ex-Martha Graham principal dancer Okamoto Rika, another Hollywood newcomer. Shooting on Geisha starts in Los Angeles and Kyoto in January.
Added: Tapi pas gue cek lagi nih, kayaknya itu berita lama dan film-nya ngga jadi diproduksi...ini cuplikannya, kalau mau yang lengkap baca di sini...
In any case, we haven't heard any official DreamWorks announcement about the picture's dissolution just yet. [Scooped by 'Darth Maul'.]
March 6, 1999... Memoirs of a Geisha will still happen...but in about a year or so. Composer John Williams met with Spielberg last weekend and said he still intends to helm Memoirs after his work on Minority Report has been concluded. Williams has to schedule that far in advance, and he'll squeeze in scoring Memoirs before he has to begin work on the score for Star Wars Two in 2002. Williams was reportedly a bit disappointed because he had already begun some preliminary thematic work after having read and enjoyed Golden's novel. ['C' took a look at the sheet music.]
April 20, 1999... Juancho writes in to tell us that Spielberg, Ian Bryce and Bonnie Curtis are all down as producing the project as well. [Originally appeared in Film Journal International; scooped by Juancho.]
January 22, 2002... FOX News spoke with Steven Spielberg after this week's Golden Globe Awards and they learned the director has now dropped his plans to helm Memoirs of a Geisha. "I'm not going to do it," Spielberg said. "It's over." [Scooped by Jose Costa and 'moviemaniac-7'; originally appeared on FOX News.]
March 14, 2002... Director (and occasional actor) Spike Jonze is now considering an offer to helm Memoirs of a Geisha. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter.]