The behind-the-scenes production of The Golden Princess

"The Dark Three" is adapted from the 1958 work of the same name by the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It is also an immortal masterpiece that influenced the creation of the Hollywood science fiction classic "Star Wars". This adaptation retains the main story line of the general escorting the princess to protect the gold and the two farmers who accompanied him along the way, but only adds some new elements to make it an adventure drama full of a sense of the times.

Matsumoto Jun, a member of the popular group "Arashi", challenged the role of a period drama for the first time, playing the role of Musashi, a farmer who digs gold nuggets in the film. In the trailer, we can see this unkempt Japanese "Domyoji" show. Director Higuchi Shinji said that Matsumoto's eyes that mixed innocence and wildness were the key to his casting. For his first appearance in a period drama, Matsumoto Jun himself is also prepared and does not dare to relax at all. "This is my first time to appear in such a big period drama. I want to devote myself wholeheartedly and try to challenge it." Other actors in the film include Masami Nagasawa, who stars opposite Jun Matsumoto for the first time, as well as Hiroshi Abe, Daisuke Miyagawa and others.

The new version of The Bunker has a new drama

These days, Toho seems to have taken aim at Akira Kurosawa's old work. After remaking "Tsubaki Sanjuro" meticulously, it also remade half a century ago Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece "The Hateful Three" that influenced "Star Wars" is back on the screen.

The new version of "The Bunker" claims to have "a brand-new story, a luxurious lineup, the highest sound, and has all the elements of a super entertainment blockbuster." Such promotional words are simply shocking to people's scalp. It seems that the new version is not a new bottle of the old movie. A pure remake of the wine type, many eye-catching new highlights have been added.

It is said that this is an innovative drama that subverts the old works. The two little people who helped the princess escape from the enemy country changed from farmers to mountain people. Of course, the adaptation in the film goes beyond this identity transformation. The protagonist of the old version is the samurai Rokurota Kusakabe, while the protagonist of the new version is the mountain man Musashi. This change changed the focus of the entire story and greatly affected the direction of the plot. The latter part of the film becomes a romantic love scene where Musashi and the princess elope, which is very different from Kurosawa's purpose and has more of a youth idol film flavor. The person responsible for revising the script was Kazuki Nakajima, the playwright of "New Sensen Theater Company". He re-imagined the original work and designed many new plots, making the escape scene of protecting the princess and gold more twists and turns. exciting.

The film director is Japan’s number one special effects supervisor Higuchi Shinji. After the success of "Storm" (box office of 2.4 billion yen) and "Japanese Sinking" (box office of 5.34 billion yen), Higuchi returned to the animation industry to make animated films. No new live-action film was released in more than a year. No one thought that Higuchi's new film, which he returned to the film industry after taking a break, would be a costume drama. Higuchi came up with a series of new ideas, making the new version of the Bunker shine with a vibrant sense of the times. And his superb skills in computer special effects are also fully displayed in the film. The shocking explosion of Akizuki Castle in the opening scene and the climax of Musashi and Yukihime's escape from the collapsed Yamana Castle are all computer stunt scenes comparable to Hollywood.

A luxurious lineup creates an annual entertainment masterpiece

Director Higuchi has assembled a group of industry elites to form the strongest New Bunker team.

The chief cinematographer is Ehara Shoji, who was responsible for shooting the battle scenes in "Yamato of Men", and his shots are full of boldness. The art is by Go Shimizu, who worked with Higuchi in "Storm Goddess". He led the art team to build the stunning large-scale scenery of Yamana Castle.

The martial arts director of this film is Hiroshi Kuze, who has collaborated with Akira Kurosawa. The classic battle scenes full of beauty and tension in "Twilight Seibei" were created by him. The person responsible for the soundtrack for this film is Atsuki Sato, who won the Japan Academy Award for "Eternal Sunset on Sanchome".

In addition, lighting engineer Shosuke Yoshikaku (representative works "Cicada Shigure", "Journey to the West"), sound engineer Jun Nakamura (representative work "The Sinking of Japan"), editor Ueno Soichi (representative work "Meishan") 》) are all experts in the industry.

The Cass formation in this film is also quite interesting. The protagonist Musashi is played by Johnnie's popular idol Jun Matsumoto. With the high ratings of "Boys Over Flowers", he is now extremely popular. Playing the role of Yukihime is Masami Nagasawa, who is currently in the limelight. She played the role of a man disguised as a woman in the film. The loyal military commander Kusakabe is the handsome uncle Hiroshi Abe, and the number one villain is the unique temperament Kippei Shiina. The interaction between these two people is also quite interesting. In addition, Daisuke Miyagawa, who is good at comedy, and a number of powerful actors such as Kunimura Hayabusa and Takashima Masahiro also joined the film.

Critical Director Higuchi

As a brand new adventure drama, the producers once considered borrowing locations abroad for filming, but Director Higuchi insisted that "stories that happen in Japan must be shot in Japan." ". So the production team traveled all over Japan to find suitable locations. Of course, when filming a period drama, you need to find a place where there are no modern things, and such a place is really hard to find in Japan today, not to mention that it has to meet the requirements of the movie. Therefore, different scenes were shot in different places. The filming locations of the film include Mount Aso, Kumamoto Castle, Ibaraki Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture. The scene where the princess and her group were blocked at a checkpoint was filmed in a highland near the sea, where the wind was strong and had a unique killing atmosphere. The bunker where the Qiuyue survivors are hiding is in Kono's Nest in Ueda City. It is full of mysterious natural atmosphere, like a fantasy space.

Higuchi not only has high requirements for the location, but is also very "stupid" in terms of clothing.

The costumes of each protagonist were tried on again and again, and they were changed several times. Keisuke Chiyoda, who served as the costume designer for this film, invented many new costumes. Among them, Yukihime's costume was designed with reference to denim clothes. Not only the protagonist, but also the extras' costumes were also put a lot of effort into by the film crew. The costumes of more than 500 extras in the fire festival scene were all newly designed and sewn, full of wild atmosphere with the color of mountain people.

Higuchi did not miss even details like movie posters. He invited Takehiko Inoue, the manga artist who wrote "Basketball" and "Vagabond", to draw the poster. Master Inoue is also very dedicated and went to visit the film crew. He watched the scene where Musashi and Shinpachi were imprisoned by Rokutaro, and thus designed the movie poster with a cross composition.