Dream role

I don’t know if anyone who posts here has read the series of books by Barry Eisler about an assassin named John Rain (½ Japanese, ½ American who according to the book has even done alterations to his looks to make his Asian features more prominent). Much of the action is set in Japan and other Asian locations. They are great entertainment. And, with each page, I think of Sanada san as the lead. If you’ve read any one the books, you understand this.

Anyway, I recently joined a discussion board that Mr. Eisler has set up on his website. Because the books have been optioned for film, the fans started a thread on casting for the film.

Naturally, I noted my reasons for Hiro as the lead.

Shortly after that, Mr. Eisler himself posted the most wonderful story of meeting Sanada san in Toyko.

Here’s a link the site and the quote/story. Any Hiro fan will enjoy this:
http://www.barryeisler.com/forum/index.php?topic=88.135

I'm a huge Sanada fan, BTW. Got to have drinks with him a few years in Tokyo with some people who at the time were interested in the film rights to the Rain books. He's a nice guy and radiates that "star" quality even in person. Afterward, my good friend Koichriro, who I thank in the acknowledgments of all the Rain books for helping me with everything in Japan -- settings, characters, and business aspects, too -- sat in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt across the street from where we had drinks. We were reasonably inebriated and kept saying to each other, "Dude... we just had drinks with Sanada... how cool is that?" It was a fun night.