The following is excerpted from Akira Kurosawa's autobiography "The Oil of Toads":
Ready - shoot! At that time, the girl who played this girl asked me, "Director, I just pray for my father's victory, right?" I replied, "Yes. But please pray that this film can be made into a good work by the way. Pray." - When I was the assistant director of Martial Soul, I had carefully watched Mr. Yamamoto's directing, and I was amazed at the fact that he was very thoughtful in every detail. I couldn't be that nuanced, so I doubted my ability to direct. However, when you stand in the director's position, you can clearly see what you can't see when you are in the position of the assistant director (there is no difference between the acting director and the assistant director). That said, I found subtle differences between the two positions. Creating something for yourself and creating something for others are fundamentally different. Moreover, the director writes the script himself, and naturally understands the script better than anyone else. Mr. Yamamoto once said, "If you want to be a director, you should write the script first." It was only after I became a director that I had a deep understanding of this teaching. Therefore, although "Tsusan Shiro" is my debut, it is handy and easy to shoot. In addition, this work is only a section that has just reached the foothills of the mountain. Being the foothills, there is no steepness, so it's as much fun as a picnic in the foothills. - We chose Hakone Sengokuhara as the location. It used to be a famous wind outlet, but unfortunately, the past few days have been sunny and cloudy, and there has been no wind. In the face of this situation, we had no choice but to sit in the hotel, looking up at the sky from the window, and saw that the three-day limit passed in a flash. On the last day when we had to retreat, Hakone Mountain was covered by clouds and fog, and there was still no sign of wind. I told all the crew members, today we have to stick to it for one day. Although I said that, in fact, half of it was dead, and half of it was helpless. Early in the morning I called the main crew and actors together for a beer. After a while, everyone got a little drunk and hummed a song. Suddenly, a member of the film crew waved to stop everyone and pointed out the window for everyone to see. I saw that the clouds that covered half of Hakone Wai Lun Mountain began to move, and the clouds over Lake Lu were surging and surging, as if a dragon was about to ascend to the sky. A cool breeze blew in from the window, and the hanging scrolls on the alcoves rattled and rattled. Everyone looked at each other wordlessly, then stood up hastily, and immediately started a fierce battle. People ran away carrying or carrying already prepared photographic equipment. It is not far from the hotel to the location, only two kilometers away. On the road, everyone was hunched over against the strong wind, and moved forward with difficulty. The location is a mound, and although the wildflowers have withered, the flower spikes are still pitching in the wind, like the rough sea under a typhoon. Over the field, the strong wind ripped the thick clouds into pieces, and the wind rolled over the clouds, which were fleeting. This is the best for us. The film crew and actors worked desperately in this god-blessed wind. Everyone grabbed the shot of the galloping thick clouds. Just after the shooting, it was a blue sky again. It seemed that the weather with thick clouds rolling just never happened before. But it didn't take long for another strong wind to blow until three o'clock in the afternoon. During this time, we have no time to rest. Just after filming the scene stipulated in the script, I saw a group of people carrying things on the barren grass and soil. The female teahouses of the hotel came carrying barrels of hot lees soup. I have never had such a good distiller's grain soup, and I drank more than ten bowls. - For a film director, a work is a segment in his life. Every time I make a film, I experience a colorful life. I have experienced all kinds of life from the movies. In other words, I lived with all kinds of people in each film. So, before I set out on a new film, it takes a lot of effort to forget about the previous work and the characters in it. But now, when I look back at my past works and write them down, the characters I have finally forgotten have come to my mind again, and they are scrambling to come up with their own ideas and opinions, which makes me very embarrassed. These characters in the works are like the ones born and raised by me, and I have a deep love for each of them. I want to write about everyone, but I can't, because I already have twenty-six books. If you don't limit the representative characters in a work to two or three, you can't write. - I'm a big fan of nasty characters. This may be because he is never dry. Anyway, I have an infinite interest in things that are unfinished but in the process of development. Therefore, this type of character image often appears in my works. Zushi Sanshiro is one of these young characters. He's immature but excellent material. I like nasty characters, but I'm not interested in guys who can't be crafted. The character of Sanshiro is a material that gradually shines when he is sculpted, so I sculpted him desperately in my works. Gennosuke Higaki is also a material that can be made into a utensil with a little carving. - The cold shot "Tsuri Sanshiro" box office was very high, so the company asked me to make a sequel. This is the fatality of commercialism. The studio distribution department doesn't seem to even know the adage "don't wait for the rabbit". They think that a sequel to a blockbuster movie is bound to succeed, so they don't want to open up new fields, they always want to relive their old dreams. The remakes are never as good as the previous ones, which is a proven fact, but they are going to repeat the same mistakes, which is downright stupid.
- "Tsushiro Sequel" did not perform well. Comments believe that Akira Kurosawa is a little complacent. I'm not actually complacent, the only reason is that I didn't give it my all.
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