Legendary actor Hiroyuki Sanada has played roles in some of the biggest films of the past few years. The Japanese actor has been acting since the age of six and has made a mark in both the Japanese film industry and Hollywood with films such as The Last Samurai, Sunshine, The Wolverine, and John Wick: Chapter 4.
Sanada will be seen in the Hulu/FX series Shogun, in which he plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, the first shogun (military dictator) of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The legendary star also produced the show and reportedly gave his all. The actor mentioned that he would be the first person to be on set and continuously shoot for his films while making sure he gave time for Shogun.
Hiroyuki Sanada’s Commitment Towards Shogun
Actor Hiroyuki Sanada reportedly became a producer on the Hulu/FX series Shogun to be more hands-on in bringing the authenticity of the time period in the fictional show. Based on the book of the same name by James Clavell, the show was a second attempt at adapting the legendary novel, with prominent Japanese star Toshiro Mifune starring in it.
Shogun reportedly had many false starts, with the show officially announced in 2018. According to Variety, writer Justin Marks was initially hesitant about adapting the show because so many works such as The Last Samurai had already been inspired and influenced by Shogun.
Though the shoot commenced in 2019, the makers reportedly felt that it was to be mounted on a larger scale and hence, the show was delayed again. Meanwhile, lead star Hiroyuki Sanada reportedly moved on to other projects while keeping Shogun at the back of his mind.
The actor reportedly had a deep connection with the material and made it a point to be truthful about it. In an interview with Consequence, Sanada said,
“That’s a big meaningful point to me. Why not just jump in and make it authentic?… It was so familiar for me. We had a fictional novel and our original script, so I followed my script more than the real history. [But] that’s why we needed to be authentic, as much as possible, to make the story and characters believable.”
He also mentioned that he went from filming Mortal Kombat to Bullet Train to John Wick: Chapter 4, and then to the sets of Shogun in Vancouver.
Hiroyuki Sanada Balanced Producing And Acting In The Show
Actor Hiroyuki Sanada’s commitment to Shogun was unwavering. The actor stuck to the series throughout its development, filming, and post-production while balancing much of his other large-scale projects such as the Mortal Kombat films, Bullet Train, and John Wick: Chapter 4.
The actor also served as a producer on the Hulu/FX series, making sure that the show stuck to the time period in which it is set. Though the novel and the series are fictional, Sanada reportedly went the extra mile to make sure that the rest of the elements in the series were as authentic as possible. In an interview with Consequence, he said,
“We hired specialists for wigs, costumes, props — for every department…we had a master of gestures on set, but in my experience as an actor, we needed to correct a lot of movements. Matching for period, matching for characters, matching for the situation. So I needed to watch carefully every time…every day, before we started shooting, I went to the set — I was the first person on set before other producers or directors.”
The actor also mentioned that he balanced his acting and his role as the producer of the show. He said that there were times when he would be in his costume and would check the monitor for the shots to make sure everything was going well. He said,
“I would go to makeup, wardrobe, and then in front of the camera. So when I [was] in front of the camera, I was so relaxed, just enjoying focusing on my acting…Sometimes I was checking the monitor with the full armor on.”
He also reportedly learned falconry and properly made a connection with the bird in the show. He mentioned that he would feed and pet the bird in between takes to keep the connection intact. Hiroyuki Sanada also mentioned that the show was simple enough for people to understand due to its universal themes, despite the complex world-building.
