Twilight Samurai

As a member of the Japan Action Club in the late '70s through the mid '80s, Hiroyuki Sanada appeared alongside Sonny Chiba and Sho Kosugi as a badass samurai and high-flying ninja in films like Shogun Assassins, Renegade Ninjas, and Shogun's Ninja. Sanada was introduced to a new generation of moviegoers when he appeared in 1998's Ringu and Ringu 2, the franchise that triggered a horror movie renaissance in Japan. In 2003, he came back as a swordsman in Twilight Samurai. The film resuscitated and redefined the dead genre, earning 12 Japanese Academy Awards.

GR: Twilight Samurai won many film awards in Japan. Can you explain its appeal?
HS: Twilight Samurai is special because it changed the history of samurai films. For a long time, Japanese samurai films were so stylized they were not real. This time, we tried to show more authentic human drama in the samurai period. My seibei character is so poor and dirty, but he is never ashamed. He is a new type of hero. He is a samurai and a strong swordsman, but he doesn't want to kill. He wants to be a farmer and spend time with his daughters. He loves the peaceful life. The film doesn't have big-scale battle scenes. It's more like family drama. That's why modern people can understand it.

GR: Your character, who has job-related problems, and Rie Miyazawa's character, who left her abusive husband, seem very modern. HS: My character knows that the samurai period is nearly over and that another world is coming. No more fighting, no more wars - just enjoy the peaceful life. It was very fresh to the Japanese audience.
GR: Do you think people in modern Japan can relate to the shift in history? There's the fall of big corporations... HS: Maybe. GR: The film's tone is very serious and stoic. Was the director like that on the set? He's known for directing comedies. HS: Yamada Yoji is a very funny guy. He loves Japanese stand-up comedy, and he made a funny, peaceful mood on the set. He could be sweet, but sometimes serious. I think that's a good balance. GR: Did the shooting of Twilight Samurai differ from your experiences with samurai and ninja films in the '70s and '80s? HS: When I was young I did a lot of martial arts films, but people went to see them only for the action. I hated that. I stopped doing action in my films when I was 25. Of course, I kept training, but I stopped being in action films. GR: Because you got injured too often? HS: No, I wanted to be an actor. If I continued doing action, my image as an action star would have continued. It was not good for me, and it was not my intention. So I stopped doing action and chose dramas. Then after I was 30 or 35, I wanted to do action again. Action and good drama mixed together could be a good balance. That strategy has succeeded, I think.