Shall We Dance (2004 film)
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Shall We Dance? is an American motion picture released in 2004. It was rated PG-13 by the MPAA. It has a runtime of about 106 min. The film had grossed US$48,728,611 after 5 weeks of being released.
It was filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and Chicago.
Richard Gere plays a happy, yet unfulfilled Chicago estate lawyer who one day, upon sight of a beautiful instructor, played by Jennifer López, is inspired to sign up for ballroom dancing lessons to escape the humdrum routine of his daily life. Ballroom dancing brings out a new side of his personality, helped through the inspiration of López's character, Paulina. Other stars include Susan Sarandon and Anita Gillette.
The film is based on a 1996 Japanese movie of the same name, produced by Masayuki Suo. It is a rather faithful remake, following the plot of the original version fairly precisely.
Tagline: Step out of the ordinary.
Cast
- Richard Gere .... John Clark
- Jennifer López .... Paulina
- Susan Sarandon .... Beverly Clark
- Stanley Tucci .... Link Peterson
- Bobby Cannavale .... Chic
- Lisa Ann Walter .... Bobbie
- Omar Benson Miller .... Vern
- Anita Gillette .... Miss Mitzi
- Richard Jenkins .... Devine
- Nick Cannon .... Scottie
- Onalee Ames .... Diane
- Tamara Hope .... Jenna Clark
- Mya Harrison ... Vern's Fiancé
The Remake
In the 2004 remake of "Shall We Dansu?", changes have been made to the original characters to adapt them to Hollywood audiences.
- The character Shohei Sugiyama becomes John Clark. He now is a lawyer. The biggest change is that his reason for not telling his wife about taking dance classes is his attraction to Paulina. In Japan, ballroom dance is scandalous; in America, it is not considered as much of an unusual past-time.
- The character Mai Kishikawa is retold as Paulina. One difference between the two is the fact that Mai's father owns the Kishikawa school while Paulina's father is a dry-cleaner.
- Tomio Aoki is now Link Peterson, a tough athlete-type who worries that if people knew he was a dancer they would think of him in tights instead of footballs.
- Toyoko Takahashi becomes Bobbie, still a loud and rude character.
- The character Tokichi Hattori is replaced with a closet homosexual by the name of Chic.
- Masahiro Tanaka is now Vern and he's still in it for exercise.
- Tamako Tamura becomes Miss Mitzi. In the remake, she owns the school and is an alcoholic (possibly to provide comic relief).
- Masako Sugiyama is Beverly Clark. She has more screen time and we see that she is not a stay-at-home mom but a part of the work force. (In the original, Masako Sugiyama was not a stay-at-home mom either, but in the US release of the film, the scenes with her working were cut out).
- Chikage Sugiyama now has a brother.
External links
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