Sourpuss thespian Sawajiri snared in Doppelgang bang scandal

The actress storms off stage in a rage and demands a massage from her manager. Admonishing him for starting with her feet, she then thrusts out her breast and insists he start his petting there, according to Friday (3/7).

When asked her opinion of the manager's mammary ministrations the actress huffs "betsu ni" -- Sawajiri's trademark phrase meaning "nothing special" -- that derives from an infamous response to what she thought of her role in a recent movie.

From the clothes, accessories, blond wig, legendarily snooty attitude and uppity voice, there seems little doubt the actress is Erika Sawajiri, the 21-year-old thespian who raised a storm last autumn with a display at a news conference so petulant that has gone down in Japanese entertainment history.

But surely it couldn't be the otherwise squeaky clean Sawajiri baring a breast for all to see?

Actually, it's not. But it is a woman who bares an incredibly close resemblance to her.

What's going on is a scene from "Erika Sama (Lady Erika)," an adult movie that should have hit store shelves last week had it not been canned by producers Real Works, despite widespread expectation that it would be a surefire hit.

"Tokyo Sports (newspaper) had a big impact because it gave the movie front page treatment with a story that really raised expectations. It wasn't hard, because it was a movie featuring a star who's the spitting image of a really popular actress," an adult movie industry insider tells Friday. "It was definitely a movie I would have liked to have had a peek at."

But just days before the movie was due to go on sale, Real Works decided to cancel the skinflick, with only a cryptic message its website saying: "Sales have been cancelled for a number of reasons."

Real Works is not particularly forthcoming when the weekly contacts it to find out more.

"Sorry, but we can't say any more than what appeared on the website," a spokesman for the adult movie production company says.

Considering the movie had the copycat Sawajiri performing in scenes mimicking precise situations the real actress has appeared in, as well as featured take-offs of commercials in which she has appeared, rumors became rife that Real Works bowed to pressure from the performer's talent agency or sponsors. It seems "Erika Sama" was just a little too close to home.

"Being so accurate definitely had some connection to sales being halted," an adult movie production company boss tells Friday. "Initially, there were rumors that complaints from Sawajiri's talent agency or representatives from the beverage maker she advertises for had something to do with the movie being withdrawn from sale, but this talk was totally groundless.

"Real Works, which made the movie, is actually the subsidiary of another adult movie company. That company is part of the same group of corporations that makes up one of Japan's largest music and video rental companies. Apparently, a message was passed down from the top of the group's parent company to Real Works' bigger adult movie company, telling them to pull 'Erika Sama' because the contents were just too close to the real Sawajiri for comfort."

Source: FRIDAY
Written by: Ryann Connell (MDN)