Wrestling 100 Mongolians! - an exclusive interview with Tyler from hit film Kintaro Walks Japan (and a bit of breaking news)

On November 03, 2007 in Interviews

Hi All.�In the�previous post�we learnt a bit about the making of Kintaro Walks Japan and I highlighted some clips.

Today, I am extremely excited and�honored to�give you our full interview with Tyler MacNiven, a.k.a “Kintaro”:

Daily J: What was the best part about walking Japan?

Tyler: Meeting all the kind people. I was invited to stay in nearly 70 homes on my 5 month walk.

Daily J: I walked 80 kilos one time with a friend in the countryside near Mt.Fuji and my feet were KILLING me at the end. Did you have any physical problems while walking? What kind of training did you do to prepare?

Tyler: I waited tables for five months before the walk, which means that I was on my feet 5-7 hours a day anyway. It was the perfect training because I was saving for the trip while getting physically prepared. I got two blisters the whole trip. Double your socks, it will save your life.

Daily J: What is your favourite place in Japan and why?

Tyler: I loved Hokkaido because of the open scenery and delicious soft cream.

Daily J: Do you still keep in touch with any of the friends you met on your trip?

Tyler: I do keep in touch with some of the people from the walk. I revisited one of the couples that I stayed with on the walk recently and they had a new baby. The husband asked why his kid’s hair was so blond!

Uh oh. I wonder�if Ayumi knows…

Daily J: I know that your film has won some awards, can you tell us about that?

Tyler: Kintaro Walks Japan has played on American Airlines International flights, as well as many film festivals around the country. It won best of fest at the Santa Cruz film festival, and was also the first feature length movie on Google Videos.

Daily J: Since KWJ you’ve been on amazing race and you did I ran Iran, can you tell us a bit about that? And are there any other projects in the works?

Tyler: Winning the Amazing Race has given me a great opportunity to keep making movies. In 2006 I began producing the documentary, “I Ran Iran,” which is about my attempt to promote friendship between the US and Iran by running the 950-mile length of Iran. Although the run was cut short after 100 miles, I am currently negotiating my return to Iran with the Physical Education Organization of Iran. This most recent summer I starred in a comedy film produced in Mongolia, called “Wrestling Mongolia,” in which my character learns compassion by attempting to wrestle one hundred Mongolians.

Yes, that is right folks, he said wrestling 100 Mongolians! It has to be a blast travelling around the world doing films like this! To me independent films like�Tyler’s are much more interesting than the mass media films and television we are bombarded with.

Daily J: What happened in Iran (If you don’t mind me asking)? Was it cut short do to an injury? Or was it some kind of visa problem?

Tyler: Here’s the iran story: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/journeys/feature/iran_0407.cfm

Now for the breaking news!

“Mongolia trailer should be up later this month at wrestlingmongolia.com, but there’s nothing there yet.”

Bookmark that site! I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to see it.

Links�

I have saved some interesting links for the end�of this post (so that we could all concentrate on Tyler’s answers without distraction):

KintaroWalksJapan.com�- the official website where you can watch the movie,�buy the DVD, read reviews, watch trailers and music videos!

http://www.tylermacniven.com/�- on the front page there is�his lonely planet video

http://www.iraniranthemovie.com/�- the official homepage for the I Ran Iran movie.

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4921106�- winning “The Amazing Race: season 9″

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintaro_Walks_Japan�- KWJ’s Wikipedia page

http://www.buckswoodside.com/kintaro/index.html�- KWJ on the Buck’s of Woodside homepage.

http://www.outdoorjapan.com/contents/current_issue/200510/f200510kwj?language=english�- Tyler MacNiven in�Outdoor Japan

http://www.santacruzfilmfestival.com/archives2006.html�- Kintaro Walks Japan wins “Best of Fest” award at Santa Cruz Film Festival

And one of Daily J’s past interviewees, Harvey�at JapanNewbie.com talks about KWJ and Ayumi�replies in the the comments section. I just asked Harvey if he ever met up with them like they had�talked about doing. If I find out I will post an update.

Whew!�This interview was so much fun! I cannot thank you enough Tyler for�giving us fans a little behind the scenes Q & A. Keep making great films!

And thank you all for reading.

To all a good day

From Daily J�

Comments (3)