Seizo Fukumoto, who plays the Silent Samurai, is an alumnus of countless Japanese Samurai films and known for his expertise at Kirareyaku roles (a Samurai who often dies at the hands of the hero), and postponed his retirement to participate in The Last Samurai. Masato Harada, who portrays the scheming businessman Omura, proponent of modernization and foe of the Samurai, is a respected and award-winning film director of worldwide renown. Shichinosuke Nakamura, who portrays the young Emperor, comes from a family of Kabuki performers and has appeared in numerous roles on international stages. Koyuki, as Katsumoto’s dutiful, conflicted sister Taka, is a successful model and actress who has several popular television dramas to her credit. Shun Sugata, who plays the loyal Samurai and jujitsu master Nakao, recently appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, following numerous starring roles in Japanese films. As Katsumoto’s son Nobutada, who befriends the captive Captain Algren in his father’s Samurai compound, kung-fu expert Shin Koyamada makes his feature film debut in The Last Samurai. His character’s particular specialty is the bow and arrow, for which he practiced for months under the tutelage of Koji Fuji, another of the onscreen Samurai but also a bona fide master archer and a no-nonsense coach.
Continuing in an international vein, the filmmakers cast Londoner Timothy Spall in the starring role of displaced Brit Simon Graham, who serves as Algren’s interpreter upon his arrival in Tokyo; Glasgow-born Billy Connolly, as Algren’s friend and comrade-in-arms, Zebulon Gant; and native Californian Tony Goldwyn as Col. Bagley, a former Civil War officer seeking his fortune in Japan.
"Tim Spall is a gem," declares Herskovitz. "His character is much too idealistic for his own good and Tim brings a humor and wit to the part that is incredibly endearing."
"Because Algren’s journey is so personal," offers screenwriter John Logan, "we gave the audience an interlocutor in the character of Graham, a lens through which to view him." Indeed, Spall’s character, Simon Graham, serves initially as Algren’s main conduit to all things Japanese and also serves, to some extent, as the story’s narrator. He is the quintessential Victorian expatriate, dressed in a hat and suit. For all his proper attire, though, Spall recognizes him as "a true misfit."
"He’s one of those people," the actor elaborates, "often found in a country foreign to them. They live there because they’re misfits to a degree in the country they’re from." Or, he quips, "They might be the third son of a minor aristocrat and nobody knows what to do with them. In any case, Simon Graham has found himself in Japan attached to a 20-year-old British trade mission. Meanwhile, he’s grown to genuinely adore the culture and knows more than anyone how it’s changing."
For his part, the English actor mastered several lines of Japanese dialogue phonetically, a feat he shrugs off with characteristic humor, but notes that nothing gave him more trouble than the camera used for his character’s photography hobby, an actual 19th century relic the prop department found on eBay. "Ah, the camera," he recalls with a shudder. "That’s when it got a bit difficult, doing the Japanese and operating the Victorian plate camera simultaneously. It’s like rubbing your head and patting your stomach. Don’t know how I managed it."
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