Samurai Quotes

(on his role in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) and how he prepared) I started reading "The Hagekure" and other books, including one called "The Code of the Samurai", and I watched a lot of films. I tried to find his mindset more than anything. It`s more like a trance-like state for this character than it is anything else, based in the ancient book that he follows. But I did a lot of different types of research.

I look at the Samurai because they were the artists of their time. What I think struck me when I read Bushido is compassion. `If there`s no one there to help, go out and find someone to help.` That hit me, because I try to lead my life like that.

I was 18 when I saw Akira Kurosawa`s Shichinin no samurai (1954). After about 30 seconds, I realized that this was not just a cultural thing, it was universal. Years later, I read Bushido. It talked about many things that I strive for in my own life: loyalty, compassion, responsibility, the idea of looking back on your life and taking responsibility for everything you`ve ever done. I`m fascinated by the samurai and the samurai code - it`s one of the main reasons I wanted to make The Last Samurai (2003).

Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West - the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory. It took everybody out of their own little world. The cowboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai. Now, I wonder who`ll continue it.

Working on the Samurai sword is very different because your body position has to be very still. It`s a much quieter was of fighting.

Before I go off and direct a movie I always look at 4 films. They tend to be: "Seven Samurai" (Shichinin no samurai (1954)); Lawrence of Arabia (1962); It`s a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956).

Quentin wanted to create this special world in which everybody walks around with a samurai sword, extras in the airport, a special little place in the airplane to stick your samurai sword.

(On his role in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) and how he prepared) "I started reading the Hagekure and other books, including one called The Code of the Samurai, and I watched a lot of films. I tried to find his mindset more than anything. It`s more like a trance-like state for this character than it is anything else, based in the ancient book that he follows. But I did a lot of different types of research."

I don`t like the term chick flick. I think it denigrates a movie. It has overtones of talking down to women, like they are second best. We don`t call The Last Samurai a guy flick, do we?

I don`t get over the wonder of it, and `The Last Samurai` was an extreme example of that. Every day when I went to the set, I couldn`t believe what I was seeing.

Really interesting genre films, especially monster movies, evoke the fears of the times intentionally. Our starting point was Godzilla - the original movie was released less than 10 years after Hiroshima, and it`s a classic in Japan. It came out at the same time as Seven Samurai and is held in equal regard. Yet it was definitely a metaphor for the anxiety of those times, about the fears after Hiroshima and the knowledge that we now had the ability to destroy the world. To give that the form of a giant monster - that was an effective way of exploring that fear.