You know the age-old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover?" Well, that's certainly the case with Kiki Sukezane.
At first glance, the Japanese actress may look small and sweet — but mess with her, and she will turn into a lean, mean sword-wielding machine. Just watch the trailers that have been released for Heroes Reborn so far, and you'll see what we mean.
Sukezane stars as one of the ordinary people with extraordinary abilities in Heroes Reborn – a new 13-episode series that's a continuation of 2006's Heroes – premiering on NBC September 24. The trailers haven't revealed a ton about her character Miko Otomo, a young woman living in Tokyo, described by the official Heroes Reborn synopsis as "trying to track down her missing father while hiding an extraordinary secret that will make her a force to be reckoned with." They do, however, show her ready to take down bad guys, samurai sword in hand.
"I've been training in samurai sword fighting for six years. I really put my style into this character," said Sukezane – whose ancestors were samurai – in a Skype interview with T-Lounge while on break from filming Heroes Reborn in Toronto. "I think that's why I got this role, because for the audition, I showed them my sword-fighting skill."
Though Miko is a new character in the Heroes universe, fans of the original series will recognize the helix symbol on the grip of the sword Sukezane's character wields in the trailers and promo shots for the show. In fact, Miko's sword looks a lot like the one the legendary samurai Takezo Kensei carried in Heroes, although Sukezane neither confirmed nor denied the resemblance.
"Well... I can't tell you anything," Sukezane said. "But we'll see."
But working with such a big ensemble cast has meant more to Sukezane than just a good time.
"I learn every time I go to the studio, because they're such good actors. Even if I just watch them, it's like studying for me," Sukezane said. "I use English and Japanese both in the show, so it's still harder for me to act in English because it's my second language, but they help me a lot even before we shoot and then also during the shoot."
Aside from the language barrier, the most challenging part of filming Heroes Reborn for Sukezane was unsurprisingly the fighting. Sukezane did all of the sword work for for Miko while her stunt double took care of the more gymnastic movements, like flips and cartwheels. As one can imagine, trying to single-handedly take down five or six guys at a time, as Sukezane does in Heroes Reborn, wasn't easy.
"I hit the camera a couple times during the shoot, and I was like, 'Oh my God,'" she said. Sukezane hasn't gotten any injuries during filming yet — "just bruises and stuff, but you know, bruises hurt pretty much everyone."
All in a day's work for a warrior.
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