Logistically, the director faced numerous challenges, all of which he ultimately took in stride, acknowledging the scale of the picture, its cross-cultural nature and the number of location shoots. "Just looking at the battle sequences," he recalls, "I remember thinking, were going to need how many men in this scene? and realizing, all of a sudden, the enormity of pulling that together. Not only do we need these men but they must be good actors, effective on camera, and then trained for battle, trained in martial arts. How many translators will we need?"
What he happily discovered was that "so many of the extras we found already had some martial arts training and were eager to demonstrate those skills. Its been awhile since Japanese-style fighting has been on the screen. The Chinese martial arts have had exposure in a lot of popular movies in recent years, and even in the kinds of wire work that has inspired, but the disciplines practiced traditionally in Japan have their own brilliance. In a way, many of the actors saw themselves as ambassadors, able to showcase this style to a worldwide audience. They were excited to be part of this, and we were immensely grateful to have them."
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