To be a geisha, you have to have to an iron-clad layer around you - around your physical body and your heart.

When you're a teenager, you could do a lot more crazy things, and your body recovers faster.

I have been presented with roles with demand not just a physical ability but mental disciplines as well. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' was not so much about physical exertion... it was much more graceful and contained than that.

Martial arts is just practice. Being a geisha requires complete control.

Before you get into the mind, you have to inhabit the physicality. Body language is a great way of speaking.

Body language is more fascinating to me than actual language.