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For years, Edward Zwick was primarily known as a television guy.
Later, he would also executive-produce the well-receivedOnce and AgainandMy So-Called Life.
It wasntLawrence of Arabia, but we tried, Zwick writes.
Such difficult births are quite common in the business.
Deliberately or not, a studio will do anything it can to make a script more accessible.
One thing you learn, when they call it a passion project, you know youre in trouble.
The movie had a green light from the moment Tom said yes.
It was like the no-bid, cost-plus contracts Id heard about between military contractors and the Defense Department.
A million dollars of R&D to scout locations, hire department heads, and figure out logistics?
A trip to Japan to do research and meet actors?
Let us make the reservations for you!
You want to shoot on three continents?
Within weeks we were in headlong prep.
There was so much I didnt know, and even more that wed gotten wrong in the script.
Since at least a third of the movie would be in Japanese, I needed help with the dialogue.
The great screenwriter Yo Takeyama agreed to join me.
Like many institutions in Japan, casting was often hierarchical.
They informed the executives back in Burbank that this was a terriblefaux pas.
It was Hiroyuki Sanada himself who came to the rescue.
Day by day as his self-confidence grew, so did Kens performance.
It turned out that the 700-year-old Buddhist compound was located atop a mountain outside Himeji, a midsize city.
To reach it required taking a rickety funicular.
But I had forgotten this was a Tom Cruise movie.
They figured out a way to make it work.
It was a north-south mountain range, as was Japans.
until we found a pristine valley in which to build Katsumotos village.
There, Lilly would bring Japanese carpenters to build the houses in the traditionalsashimonostyle of wood joinery without nails.
She also began planting rice paddies that wouldnt be shot until the following spring.
Back in L.A., it was a cold, rainy winter.
One wet evening, Marshall Herskovitz and I were scheduled to meet with Tom about the script.
Also, because he insisted.
This became something I depended on more and more as the demands of shooting drew closer.
I drove over to his house in the Pacific Palisades, harboring more than a little dread.
Had Tom asked him to rewrite us?
Apparently, he just wanted to take my measure.
Below us, we could barely make out five spectral figures hacking at each other with wooden swords.
No stuntman was going to play his part.
There was one stunt we knew would be too dangerous.
So how to do it?
These days it would all be done with CG, but that was still years away.
To shoot it in cuts using a stuntman would inevitably look staged and give the gag away.
It was Paul Lombardi, our special-effects guru, who suggested building an animatronic horse.
All I know is theyre the most expensive frames of any film Ive ever shot.
Our first day of shooting was in the Buddhist monastery.
Riding up the funicular at dawn, we were enveloped by clouds.
Soon after, the entire crew gathered under the gaze of a 14-foot-high Buddha.
At lunch they even made us seasonal bento boxes of sashimi adorned with colorful fall leaves.
It was as magical a time as Ive ever had on set.
After lunch we were to shoot the first scenes to be performed entirely in Japanese.
At first, Id confer with Yoko after every take.
Did their performances seem natural?
Were their line readings correct?
If I had an adjustment, she would communicate it to the actors.
But after a while, I began to allow my instincts to guide me.
It was, I suppose, what directing silent films must have been like.
Remarkably, it was often her favorite as well.
I was especially pleased as Kens sense of humor began to inform his performance.
Over the course of a taxing shoot, that quality would prove to be a saving grace.
He is one of the most delightful, soulful men Ive ever met.
We shot in Japan for two weeks, mostly in Kyoto.
I walked in expecting something glitzy and high end.
It was just the opposite.
Its possible he knew just how boisterous we would get.
When Sanada entered, I thought the bartender was going to faint.
Ken turned out to have a spectacular voice and loved to sing American pop standards.
(He would go on to be nominated for a Tony for his performance inThe King and I.)
We flew back to L.A. for the second leg of our worldwide production.
Lillys production design was a marvel: every detail from the live eels to the wood joinery.
Same with costume designer Ngila Dicksons hand-painted kimonos and gleaming armor.
On our first day of shooting in Burbank, I happened to glance behind me and see Steven Spielberg.
Moments later, David Fincher appeared, and then Cameron Crowe.
How coincidental that theyd all just happened to be on the lot that day.
But their visit prompted an oddly charming and very revealing reaction from Tom.
Apparently, even movie stars have FOMO.
Shooting went well the first week, and then we hit our first speed bump.
Thats where we had built a set for Katsumotos Tokyo home.
As a compromise we agreed to shoot split days from noon until midnight rather than work all night long.
We had already agreed not to use black powder in the antique rifles again, because of the noise.
The solution by the armorer was to turn the weapons into what essentially were battery-operated toys.
When the trigger was pulled, a flash would appear, followed by a puff of smoke.
The sound would then be added in post.
After only an hour of shooting, we were several hours behind.
How would the studio respond to us falling behind so soon?
To executives always ready to panic about the budget, it would augur worse to come.
At lunch in this case, that meant 6 p.m.
I was scheduled to have a meeting with the marketing department.
I did my best to pay attention while unable to banish the single thought hammering my brain Were behind.
How bad will it be tonight?
He greeted me with his usual, peppy Hows it going?!
I wasnt in the mood to respond in kind.
I dont know, I moaned, the sequence isnt really working.
Those stupid guns are killing us.
He listened as I went on.
Then he looked off into the night.
Hmmm …
That was all he said before touching my shoulder and walking away.
I stood there, confused.
Couldnt he tell I was upset?
Had he been in this situation so many times that he just took it in stride?
It was then that I began to realize the gulf between my experience and Toms.
When I ran into Marshall, I recounted my non-conversation with Tom.
Then he touched my shoulder exactly the way Tom had done and headed back to the set.
Later that night, as I was setting up a shot, Cruise was passing by and stopped.
How ya doing, boss?
Better, I said.
You know what we get to do tonight?
As he walked away, I realized Id missed the subtext of our earlier interaction.
He didnt want to see me shaken.
We were going to be shooting for another hundred days.
I called the studio in the morning and told them we needed to reshoot.
They didnt say a word in protest.
After New Years, our huge traveling circus moved to its third continent.
New Zealand was a dream.
My daughter learned to surf, and my son went backpacking.
I even had time to remember I was married.
There are few Japanese in New Zealand.
How then to populate the cities, seaports, and villages we had built?
The answer was obvious: bring them over.
This would prove harder than it seemed.
Our base of operations was New Plymouth, a small oil-and-gas town on the North Island.
Within a week it looked like an occupying army had taken over.
Every laborer with a pickup truck was put to work, every piece of heavy machinery was commandeered.
The restaurants and hotels were booming.
Not that I minded.
Koyuki, the actress playing the role of Taka, Algrens reluctant host, was the greatest revelation.
Her understanding of period behavior was expressed with exquisite simplicity and elevated every scene.
Working with Tom was joyous, challenging, and exhausting.
His energy was intimidating.
Like all wrestlers, we shared a tolerance for hard work and punishment.
Tom likes to think of himself as being chased by a shark, which he means metaphorically.
His mantra when giving notes is, How can we ratchet up the pressure on my character?
By which he means, he wants a bigger shark.
But there were times that very self-assurance could look opaque on film.
Given that Algren knows he probably wont ever see it again, I thought the fading light was appropriate.
But it also meant Tom would have time for no more than a single take.
This, I thought, gave it a degree of difficulty much higher than the most difficult stunt.
I dont mean to suggest he wasnt completely open to my direction.
he would have given his all.
I didnt want him totryto make something happen.
I wanted it to happen.
As the crew scurried to make ready, we were already losing the light.
I took Tom aside.
Tell me about your son, I said.
He looked at me, surprised.
I knew Connor had just returned to L.A. and Tom wouldnt be seeing him for a while.
For a moment Tom was quiet.
And then he began to talk.
It doesnt matter what he said in those few short moments in the fading light.
I watched as he looked inward, and a window seemed to open and his eyes softened.
Go, I said, gently nudging him into position on the porch.
He nailed the scene with the depth of feeling I had loved in his best performances.
I should also mention his Japanese pronunciation was spot-on.
The light was gone.
The AD called, Wrap.
Reprinted by permission of Gallery Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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