Marshall Terrified Of Offending Book Fans

Hollywood movie-maker Rob Marshall is terrified fans of Memoirs Of A Geisha will be disappointed by his big screen adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel.

The Chicago director's version of the 1998 book hit cinema screens from next month (DEC05) and Marshall hopes his interpretation pleases the book's millions of readers around the world.

At Monday's (28NOV05) world premiere in Tokyo, Japan, Marshall said, "It was very scary to take on a novel that was so loved by so many.

"I think there are many misperceptions about what geisha are, especially in the West. I hope this film helps to clear that up."

Michelle Yeoh, who plays SUYIRI's (Ziyi Zhang) mentor MAMEHA in the movie, adds, "We tried really hard to get things right, to honour and respect the tradition of the geisha."