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"Like One Possessed": Akira Kurosawa Casting Martin Scorsese
From: American Film Institute
| By:
Akira Kurosawa |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
The late famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (right) cast Martin Scorsese in his 1990 film, Yume (Dreams), a collection of tales based on Kurosawa's actual dreams. In honor of Scorsese's being given AFI's Life Achievement Award, Kurosawa discusses shooting Yume in Hokkaido, Japan, and his inspired decision to cast Scorsese--a passionate filmmaker and film preservationist--as Vincent van Gogh. |
 he first time I met Mr. Scorsese was at a hotel in New York. At that time, he suddenly started talking about old color movies. "Original color films are deteriorating. Unless we adopt some countermeasure now, there will be serious consequences," he said. He continued to talk fast, as usual, about this subject, as if lighting a fire. |
It certainly was a serious subject, but I stopped paying attention to him for a while because I was deeply impressed with his attitude. From the aura he was projecting, all of a sudden I had the feeling that I had met somebody like him somewhere before. It was rude to Mr. Scorsese, who was eagerly talking, but I was preoccupied trying to recall who that person could be. |
Then I remembered. It was van Gogh! |
Vincent van Gogh's famous correspondence with his brother, Theo, and the expression he used in his conversation with Gauguin have a tone like one possessed and like one being chased. I felt something very similar to that tone in the way Mr. Scorsese was talking at this first meeting. |
Many years passed and I began to work on a new film using dreams as the motif. In this film, there are many dreams I have had. In one of these dreams, I met with van Gogh. The man who would play van Gogh was predecided before I started writing the screenplay. The man was Mr. Scorsese! That is to say, I was able to create in Dreams the meeting with van Gogh because I had met Mr. Scorsese. I immediately sent the screenplay to him soliciting his appearance in the film. |
I soon received his response accepting my request, together with a tape in which he recorded his lines in the film. His speech on the tape was somewhat too fast as usual, but the effect was substantially perfect. Now, work started moving quickly. In August, he came to the location site in Hokkaido, Japan. A makeup test and a costume fitting were completed that very day. The next day we finished preparations in the morning and started final shooting in the afternoon. |
In most cases, I shoot one scene from one angle. On that day, I also shot using two cameras on a dolly as if it were a pincer attack on myself and van Gogh carrying on a conversation. The sun was still high when we finished shooting. We sat in a tent with Mr. Scorsese and started talking about all sorts of things. At that time, Mr. Scorsese was unusually shy of words. I later heard that he was worrying about the result of the shoot. |
"Was that all right? Somehow I thought it did not turn out the way I thought it should be. However, I was surprised when I saw the completed scene because it turned out exactly as I thought it should be." |
I did a terribly wrong thing to Mr. Scorsese. I should have explained to him how that particular scene would look after I edited it. However, while talking in the tent, my brain was fully occupied with the next scene in which van Gogh is walking on a hilly road that bisects a wheat field and disappears on the far side. At the same time, a very large flock of crows bursts up from the other side of the hill and the sky is dyed an ominous color by the shadow of black crows. |
How should I shoot this scene of a flock of crows? I couldn't think about anything but that. |
I must have been very restless, which compares quite well with Mr. Scorsese. |
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