Kagemusha

Kagemusha (影武者) is a film by Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese word of the title means "impersonator" (more literally, "shadow warrior"). The story is of a man who is taught to pretend to be an already dead warlord for the sake of keeping his clan united in a forthcoming battle.

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The film takes elements from the Warring States period in Japanese history. The shadowed warlord of the story is based on Daimyo Takeda Shingen and the battle on the Battle of Nagashino which took place in 1573 (source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080979/trivia).

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The film was released in 1980 and is generally considered a great costume reincarnation of feudal Japan with its endless warlordism as well as the story of a man with a divided personality, or more generally that of an actor who falls too deep into his role.

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Kurosawa originally cast the boisterous Shintaro Katsu in the title role. He left the production, however, before the first day of shooting was over – either fired or of his own accord (stories differ) – and was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, who had appeared in a number of the director's previous films.

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A little known fact is that George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola are credited at the end of the film as Executive producers (international version). They convinced 20th Century Fox – when the original producers, Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film – to make up the shortfall in the budget in return for the international distribution rights.

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Akira Kurosawa: Akira Kurosawa (?? ? Kurosawa Akira, also ?? ?) (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a prominent Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter of films, many of which are considered highly influential worldwide classics....

Japanese: When used as an adjective, Japanese refers to anything that originates from Japan. It may refer to more than one article:...

Warlord: Warlord is a pejorative term that refers to one who has de facto military control of a subnational area by virtue of a military force which is personally obedient to that warlord....

Kagemusha related Images and Photos (experimental)

Kagemusha

Kagemusha 1980