Question: In the original novel, it was Shogo (not Shuya) who hacked the system to discover how to disable the collars; at the same time he found out that the class would be doing the Battle Royale and transferred into that class to try and use his knowledge to mess it up. In the film, the person who found out how to disable the collars and the person who found out about the Battle Royale and transferred into it are different people. Does anyone know why this change was made?
Question: Is it ever explicitly explained in the novel why Kiriyama never speaks, or why he "volunteered" for the Battle Royale?
Chosen answer: He speaks in the book, actually, such as explaining that he flipped a coin to decide if he would participate in the game. He never felt emotion because of damage to his brain before he was born, which is why he's such a psychopath, but he didn't volunteer for the game. He was just part of the class that got selected, and had been forever. He actually had his own gang, who he kills at the beginning of the book.
Question: I have heard the following story about this film: one of the assistant producers met with Quentin Tarantino. Quentin talked about how much he liked the film, and the producer asked him which bit he liked best. He replied that he liked the lighthouse scene the best, and the assistant producer laughed out loud, and said that the main producer would be amused to hear him say that - because he pinched the scene from Reservoir Dogs. Is this really true?
Chosen answer: Specific aspects of direction may be from Reservoir Dogs, but the scene itself plays out almost exactly the same as in the book.
Question: I heard this movie was banned in the U.S. Is this true?
Chosen answer: This is untrue. Read the reason at http://www.battleroyalefilm.net/movie/banned.html.
Chosen answer: Kawada hacked the system, learned about the collars, and transferred voluntarily to the class he knew would be participtaing in both versions. The only difference is when he transferred: in the book, it was right after his win, and in the film it was just for the battle. Shuya never hacked anything in either the book or the film. As to why the change was made, I can only assume that, given the shortening of novels involved in film making, it's easier to make Kawada a complete stranger than a loner that the kids recognize.