We caught up with Justin Ambrosino, an up-and-coming filmmaker (and at one time, a reporter on this website) to discuss his latest short-film. The 8th Samurai has been making the rounds on the film festival circuit and has managed to garner several awards along the way including the “Best of Fest” Award at the LA Shorts Fest. The talented NY filmmaker, and AFI graduate, has been involved with an impressive range of productions in the past; from George Clooney’s solid but little known faux-reality series “Unscripted”, to Scorsese’s “The Departed” (to name a few stand-out titles). Regardless of the roll he played on those sets, his ambition has always been to write and direct. Clearly, he’s off to a strong start.
As you may have gathered from the title, “The 8th Samurai” takes a “what if?” look at the behind-the-scene happenings of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”. Justin’s classic filmmaking approach to story-telling is a breath of fresh air; a fusion between humor and tragedy and technically very strong, he comes off looking like a seasoned pro.
Gino Pagliuca: What was the inspiration for this story? and from there, how long did it take for you to develop the script?
Justin Ambrosino: It all started with the idea: “What if there were originally eight samurai in the classic Japanese film SEVEN SAMURAI by Akira Kurosawa?” It was a funny idea, had a good setting, strong characters, but still, it lacked something deeper. Then, I found the structure and it all made sense. I was doing research on the Kubler-Ross’ Grief Cycle at the time, for another script, and it just seemed like the perfect emotional journey for the hero to go through after being fired: first denial, then anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. I wrote many versions of the script, some more dramatic, some more comedic over the course of three months before settling with the final draft.
GP: I imagine you had to get the script translated (how strong is your Japanese)? Can you discuss the guidelines you used for dialogue, and then how did you make sure that you were getting what you needed from the actors performances (especially the comedic elements)?
JA: I do not speak Japanese at all, so I wrote all the dialogue, in English. Then it was translated into Japanese, word for word, by Japanese director Ken Ochiai. Since, I like the actors to feel comfortable with the words, I let them further translate into their own preferences. Later, they told me what the “new” dialogue was. I either approved, or we made adjustments, not to lose the original intention. On set, my script supervisor spoke Japanese, so she regulated the text. I focused all my energy on watching the eyes, body movement, blocking, etc. to make sure those elements were also telling the story. Most of the comedic beats were already in the script. We also rehearsed a lot to create the balance of the drama and comedy. Other comedic beats were found and heightened later in post.
GP: Can you tell us about the casting process (I noticed many appeared in Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima)?
JA: It was important to me to find Japanese actors who could speak fluent Japanese. Letters from Iwo Jima was the most recent and probably only Japanese film in the History of Hollywood Cinema. But more importantly the actors in that film were an extraordinary, dedicated troupe. Eastwood definitely knows how cast among many other things. So I got a hold of Yumi Takada, the casting associate on that film, sent her the script, some characters descriptions, she sent me back her recommendations. I cast the lead, Eijiro Ozaki, first and worked from there. I didn’t intend on casting all of them from Eastwood’s film but it just happened that way, and the fact that they knew each other was an added bonus.
GP: There’s a lot of attention to detail. Even though there seems to be few sets, what you do see (clothes, equipment, etc…) go a long way in setting the period. How accurate are those elements, and were they hard to come by?
JA: Nara Yoon, the production designer, spent a lot of time, based on research, going around to all the prop houses in Hollywood to find the authentic camera, lights, clothing, cigarettes, booze and playing cards from that time period. We didn’t even use any modern lighting equipment, meaning even the lights we used to light the movie were period. There is only one set piece where we took cinematic license: the director’s trailer. In fact, even today, there aren’t trailers on a Japanese film set. I just wanted to separate the director from his crew and it felt weird to have him hiding behind a tree or something. But I made sure the trailer was at least of that time period. I just kept thinking if I believe it, the audience would go with me.
GP: On so many levels, this seems like a very ambitious project. Was there ever any doubt in your mind while you were writing this that you might not be able to make this into a short-film?
JA: Actually, I wrote this script thinking it probably would never get a green light (AFI has a green-lighting process) but then they green lit the film and I thought, “Now I have to direct this monster of a production.” So the biggest lesson I learned with that was that if I could just have one of everything that would be enough. I wanted a whole Japanese feudal village, but in the end, because of the budget, I said, if I could just have one hut, I can make it work. I wanted three period cameras because sometimes they used three cameras during that time, but later I said, if I could just have one good one I can make it work. I wrote in the script: rain, fog, night scenes, it all seemed like an impossible nightmare, but it’s all about having a dedicated crew, ready and willing to make a good movie. You can’t make a film like this alone.
GP: What was your biggest pre-production worry – financing, actors, props, the B&W look, etc…?
JA: Money is always a problem, but besides money, it was really “how was everyone going to interpret this story”. It is really dangerous territory telling a story through a foreign culture. I didn’t want to make fun of Japanese cinema, only pay homage to it. I did not want to criticize Japanese culture, only contribute to it. And I did not want to offend any important cinematic figure, only show my love. But this is also part comedy, part parody, and I needed a little freedom to have fun with the material. Very tricky. Anyone can be quick to judge it and not look any deeper. So, in terms of my worries, I was extremely worried about that. Ultimately though, I trusted myself, knowing my good intentions, and hoped the work would show that. Overtime, that worry has faded away, from all the support from Japan.
GP: The character of Akira Kurosawa (played by Toshi Toda) is a big part of the film. What material did you pull from to bring him to life on screen? And for the lead Nanshu, how much of the character was developed in collaboration with Eijiro Ozaki?
JA: I don’t like to say that the main character is actually Kurosawa, he is really a symbol or metaphor for God or Fate. Sure he looks like Kurosawa and happens to be making a film about seven samurai but it much more than the surface. Kurosawa has a specific sense of humor, a unique style of music against image, an epic quality to his storytelling. He uses characters who are samurai, ghostly spirits, outsiders. His use of composition, framing, editing are just plain masterful. So there was so much to draw from but in the end I really worked organically. The story dictated what it needed and from that, I’m sure you can find many similarities with Kurosawa’s work. I worked a lot with Eijiro Ozaki to develop Nanshu, but at this point it is blurry who had what idea for Nanshu. That’s probably a better question for him. I do remember Eijiro wanted his character in the “Samurai Movie” he was fired from to be called Zembei because he had heard that was one of the character names Kurosawa considered but never used.
GP: Judging from the film itself, would you say your style of directing is influenced by the filmmaking masters and classic films?
JA: With this film, I had always imagined a “what if” scenario: “What if Billy Wilder wrote a script, gave it Pier Paolo Pasolini and he decided to go to Japan to shoot it, on location, while Kurosawa was making a movie?” I don’t think I stole anything from any of these directors. I only kept trying to imagine that situation, what that tone would be and I kept striving to perfect it. But this is a classic film so it had to be approached that way. I don’t imagine doing something like this every time. Every film is different and requires a different approach.
GP: There was a moment when the director was describing his dream to the producers, and you punctuated the dialog with the actual sounds he was describing. Was this a direct inspiration from another filmmaker?
JA: I don’t recall any inspiration for that moment. At the time of writing that scene, I heard those sound effects and I knew they would help make that scene work. I remember discussing with the actors what the sounds would be like at a table read. Nobody understood what the hell I was talking about until they saw and heard it. It is one of my favorite scenes.
GP: The main character keeps seeing his mother, essentially personifying that character’s defeatist and insecure attitude, as well as revealing his history. I could swear this is another homage to Kurosawa…?
JA: Maybe, but again, unintentionally. Kurosawa did use spirits to sometime express the inner turmoil in the living characters but that is based on conversations with my parents and is really about myself. In fact it is a very personal story. I think there is a universal quality to that relationship, so I’m sure you can find many stories with characters like that. Even Shakespeare. As a storytelling device it is very effective and making a film in the realm of Japanese Cinema, I had a sort of carte blanche to use that kind of character and know it would be easily accepted.
GP:What was the production schedule like? How long did it take to film?
JA: Five long days. Actually four long nights, a break, then one more day. Very grueling on the cast and crew.
GP: 8th Samurai has been extremely successful on the festival circuit. Do you have any advice for short film filmmakers submitting their films?
JA: Submit to everything. If you think I’d rather save my money to make another short film than submit to small festivals too, then I think you didn’t make a short film you are really proud of. The festivals are the only theatrical release of your short film. You should get it into as many theaters as possible. Unless you are the “chosen one” chances are you are going to be rejected from some big festivals, but if you submit to the smaller ones you can eventual find your audience. And if you want to get into a specific festival, do your research, make that film for that festival because every festival is different and is really looking for something different. Just because you make a good film doesn’t mean a good festival is going to like it.
GP:What are you currently working on? Anything coming up soon?
JA: I’m working on a multilingual script with Korean director Yongki Jeong. He will produce it and I will direct. I’m very exciting about it. I spent three months in South Korea writing the script, researching elements of the story and just getting to know the culture.
Visit the official website for more on Justin Ambrosino’s The 8th Samurai.
