Most of the buildings on set were plant-ons, facades grafted to the existing New York street structure, made mostly of sturdy, contemporary materials such as wood and fiberglass tiles. However, the doors, screens and lanterns plus some of the boxes, chests and baskets were all Japanese antiques found in Los Angeles and Japan.
Kilvert also participated in the scouting expedition that ultimately uncovered a secluded 40-acre cattle and sheep farm in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on which to construct the film’s self-sufficient 19th Century Samurai village. A 200-member crew that included local carpenters then converged to create a total of 25 structures from the ground up, as well as fences, gates and animal pens. "Mostly," as Kilvert recalls, "in the pouring rain."
To facilitate revealing shots the crew cut horizontally into bordering hillsides and built on multiple levels, moving upward more than outward and providing depth. Lumber was brought in by helicopter; thatch from a nearby valley was cut and hand-tied; and crops planted. Fabric was dyed and fashioned into a series of large flags that would identify the village by its Samurai clan name. With the exception of a small number of props and lanterns imported from Japan, every item in the completed village was made by the crew, using local sources.
Beginning five months prior to the arrival of cameras, greenskeeper Stephanie Waldron and her team took on the tough terrain to make rice paddies and plant trees and crops.
Kilvert designed her village with the precision and pragmatism of a city planner. "We had a potter’s building complete with baking kiln, a weaver’s house, a basket maker, and – this being a Samurai village – a swordsmith and a shrine where, among other things, the blades would be blessed," she recounts. "We also had a water wheel and cistern system, since the Japanese had advanced methods of water delivery and irrigation at the time. Essentially, we designed the village based on the type of people and occupations that would have existed then." With the exception of Taka’s home, all the village structures were empty shells and so served as effective shelters for the cameras, lighting and sound equipment.
That monumental task accomplished, the crew then duplicated their work on a number of soundstages, to allow the director both indoor and outdoor shooting opportunities.
New Zealand also provided the panorama for the film’s climactic battle scene – but only after the production reduced an adjacent hill by approximately 50 feet in height and 400 feet in width to create a wider field. Trees, both real and artificial, were brought in to supplement the background forest and battle flags bearing Samurai clan names were made. A team of 25 greensmen remained on hand during filming to repair damage sustained by the landscape from horses, men and simulated artillery after every major take.
"What Lilly has done on three continents is phenomenal," Herskovitz acknowledges. "Recreating period Japan on the backlot, building an entire village on the top of a mountain – it’s like going to war. We were moving armies and material on a colossal scale for a company making a movie."
Movie Database
In Theaters
