The Last Samurai
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Edward Zwick
Ken Watanabe
Tom Cruise
William Atherton
Chad Lindberg
Ray Godshall Sr.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1876, a drunk and disillusioned Civil War hero, Captain Nathan Algren, haunted by his role in a massacre of innocent Native Americans, interrupts his performance at a San Francisco sideshow advertising rifles, by hysterically recounting the bloodshed and then shooting above the terrified crowd. After the show, his former commander, the rapacious Colonel Benjamin Bagley, introduces him to Omura, a Japanese businessman bent on making feudal Japan into a modern nation for his own financial gain. Omura offers Algren a lucrative job working with Bagley to mold conscripted farmers into Japan's first modern army. Realizing his outburst at the sideshow has cost him his job and needing to feed his penchant for alcohol, Algren accepts the offer to work with Bagley and his loyal former sergeant, Zebulon Gant, in Japan, but seethes with rage against Bagley for having ordered Algren to slaughter innocent Native Americans. Arriving in Yokohama Harbor weeks later, Algren is greeted by English expatriate Simon Graham, a translator and photographer, who, after showing him Tokyo's bustling streets, escorts the visitor to the palace for an audience with Emperor Meiji. Once there, despite Graham's etiquette advice, Algren breaks the imperial code by boldly looking into the young emperor's eyes. Days later, during training, Algren learns that veteran Samurai Katsumoto, once a member of the Emperor's Guard and Meiji's personal teacher, is offended by the country's modernization and plans to lead a rebellion against which the army must soon be prepared to fight. After General Hasegawa, who once fought with Katsumoto, informs Algren that Katsumoto and his Samurai are only armed with swords and arrows, not firearms, the American decides to study his enemy by reading Graham's extensive writings on the Samurai and Bushido, their code of honor. When days later, Katsumoto attacks a railroad owned by Omura, Algren refuses to follow Omura's orders to enter into immediate battle and attempts to prove the army's lack of preparedness by ordering one of his men to shoot at him. The peasant shakes in fear so uncontrollably that he repeatedly misses Algren, but Bagley nevertheless insists they fight Katsumoto. The next day at the foggy, forest battleground, the soldiers hear the approaching Samurai yell and, fearing for their lives, begin shooting too early, thus allowing dozens of Samurai on horseback to expertly wield their swords, wounding most of the men. When Gant is killed, Algren rushes to his side, and, having run out of ammunition, fights several Samurai in hand-to-hand combat, despite his own wounds. Katsumoto watches as a Samurai clad in red armor prepares to deliver the American a final blow, but the prone Algren manages to spear and kill his enemy. Impressed by Algren's skill and perseverance, Katsumoto decides to take him prisoner rather than kill him. Following his capture, Algren witnesses Hasegawa, who has surrendered to Katsumoto, perform seppuku, a ritual in which a defeated Samurai disembowels himself with his sword to maintain his honor, while another Samurai assists by decapitating the dying man to prevent prolonged pain. After they arrive at a remote mountain village, Algren is housed with Katsumoto's sister Taka, who is forced to nurse him back to health, despite knowing that the American killed her husband Hirotaro, the warrior in red. Later, Katsumoto, finding Algren's book about military strategies to conquer the Cheyenne, begins to study his enemy, but when he questions Algren about it, the American refuses to answer. Sober and sufficiently recovered from his wounds, Algren is then allowed to walk through the village accompanied by a guard, the Silent Samurai, and observes the Samurais' diligent daily practice of martial arts and swordsmanship. When he is called before Katsumoto and asked his name, Algren at first refuses to answer, but his curiosity about the seppuku ritual opens up a conversation between the two. After Algren learns that Taka's husband was the red-armored Samurai he killed during battle, Katsumoto tells the guilt-ridden Algren that it was a "good death." Although, upon returning to Taka's house Algren is pleased to be invited to dine with family, Taka insults him in Japanese, which he does not understand, and later begs Katsumoto to remove him from her house. One day, Ujio, the most traditional of Katsumoto's Samurai, viciously knocks Algren down with his wooden practice sword, as Taka and her young son Higen watch with satisfaction. However, as Algren, despite his lack of skill or strength, continues to stand and face Ujio, Taka and Higen begin to feel sympathy for him. During one of their short conversations, Algren tells Katsumoto that he served under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. Katsumoto praises the illustrious soldier, but Algren retorts that Custer was a vain and malicious murderer. After months of being treated with "mild neglect" while living among the villagers, Algren concludes that, despite their polite and quiet demeanor, the Japanese are filled with emotion and still dedicated to their emperor. Soon after, Algren, having won Taka and the Samurais' respect, is given traditional Japanese clothing to wear and begins learning Samurai fighting and riding skills, while Higen teaches him Japanese. When one day, Algren expresses his regret to Taka for killing her husband, Taka reminds him that they were both only doing their duties. By the spring of 1877, Algren, who has finally found some peace, realizes that he has been in the village longer than anywhere else since he left home at seventeen, and dedicates himself to becoming as skilled as the Samurai. One day, during a practice fight with Ujio, Algren at first loses, but is then advised by Katsumoto's son Nobutada to be of "no mind." Remembering Ujio's previous moves and honing his concentration, Algren forces his opponent to a draw, surprising all the Samurai. Later, as the town gathers to celebrate the spring planting by watching a comic play, Algren notices the guards have disappeared and, realizing they are about to be attacked, alerts Katsumoto to the danger. Cornered in Taka's house by dozens of Omura's warriors, Algren and Katsumoto fight side by side while Katsumoto's men defeat the remaining attackers outside. Days later, Katsumoto explains Bushido to Algren by noting the timeless beauty of cherry blossoms nearby, and advising him to know life in every breath and face death without fear. Soon after, at the village baths, Algren's eyes meet Taka's and, realizing she has deep feelings for him, he thanks her for her kindness. After learning that he has been granted an audience with the emperor, Katsumoto returns Algren's books to him, explaining that he is no longer an enemy, and they both depart for Tokyo. Algren returns to find Bagley has trained thousands of soldiers, and Omura has promised the army to the emperor if Meiji agrees to sign a new trade treaty. In an audience with Meiji, Katsumoto offers to end his life for the emperor, but when the inexperienced leader asks for advice from his former teacher, Katsumoto insists the emperor must make his own decisions. Later, Omura asks Algren to lead an attack against Katsumoto, but Algren insists he was only hired to train the army and leaves the meeting. Meanwhile, when Katsumoto meets with the council and suggests that Japan has become a "nation of whores" selling themselves to the West, the council arrests him without protest from the emperor. Learning of Katsumoto's fate, Algren is determined to free his friend, but is attacked by Omura's men and forced to fight them off with swords. With Graham's help, Algren then gains entrance to Katsumoto's cell, where he and Ujio convince Katsumoto to escape rather than kill himself. During the ensuing battle, Nobutada is mortally wounded and, after telling his father that "it is my time" to die, raises his sword and rushes into the enemy fire, allowing the others escape. Later, Katsumoto laments that the Samurai are no longer necessary in the new Japan, but Algren argues that the Samurai must fight Omura's army to make the emperor understand that the ancient ways must not be forgotten in the wake of Japan's modernization. Arriving at the village the next day, Algren tells Taka and Higen he will fight alongside the Samurai. When Taka informs Algren that his decision has caused Higen to fear that, in addition to losing his father, he might lose Algren as well, the soldier holds the boy in a tearful embrace. As they make battle plans to defeat Omura's army, which is armed with machine guns, Algren suggests to Katsumoto that they must lure the enemy in close enough to engage them in sword battle. On 25 May 1877, the day of battle, as Algren prepares himself to greet death, Taka offers him her husband's suit of armor and slowly undresses and kisses Algren. Later, Katsumoto gives him a handcrafted sword with the inscription "I belong to the warrior in whom the old ways have joined the new." Later, as they approach the battlefield, Algren hands his notebooks to Graham, who positions himself high above the soldiers to document the battle with his camera. After the first round of cannon fire from Omura's men, the Samurai light fires to cover their retreat with smoke, luring all of Omura's infantry into marching behind a hill where the Samurai archers shoot and kill hundreds of the soldiers. After a round of hand-to-hand combat between bayonets and swords, Ujio leads an attack on horseback, but is soon killed. Suddenly a bugle is sounded, signifying the army's retreat. Realizing that two more regiments will be brought in, Algren tells Katsumoto that the Samurai will now be forced to march into Omura's machine guns. Lining up his remaining men on the battlefield, Katsumoto lets out a war cry and leads the suicidal charge with Algren at his side. The westernized Omura is incredulous that the defeated Samurai will not surrender despite their losses. Bagley, regaining his sense of honor, mounts his horse and rides into battle to meet his enemy and face his certain death. The soldiers then commence firing the new and powerful Howitzer machine guns, which litter the plain with dead Samurai, injuring both Algren and Katsumoto. Realizing that Katsumoto is mortally wounded, Algren assists his friend in his final courageous act, that of seppuku. As he dies, Katsumoto watches nearby cherry blossoms float through the air and whispers to Algren, "they are all perfect." Filled with humility at the passing of so great a hero, Omura's men kneel reverentially in tribute. Days later, Algren interrupts the emperor only moments before he is to sign an American trade treaty. Kneeling before Meiji, Algren offers him Katsumoto's sword, asks that he remember what his ancestors died for and offers to end his own life at the emperor's command. Having finally embraced Katsumoto's advice, the emperor announces that he will not sign the treaty, because it is not in the best interest of his people. Algren then returns to the village, where he is reunited with Taka and her children to begin a new life.
Director
Edward Zwick
Cast
Ken Watanabe
Tom Cruise
William Atherton
Chad Lindberg
Ray Godshall Sr.
Billy Connolly
Tony Goldwyn
Masato Harada
Masashi Odate
John Koyama
Timothy Spall
Schichinosuke Nakamura
Togo Igawa
Satoshi Nikaido
Shintaro Wada
Shin Koyamada
Hiroyuki Sanada
Shun Sugata
Koyuki
Sosuke Ikematsu
Aoi Minato
Seizo Fukumoto
Shoji Yoshihara
Kosaburo Nomura Iv
Takashi Noguchi
Noguchi Takayuki
Sven Toorvald
Scott Wilson
Yuki Matsuzaki
Mitsuyuki Oishi
Jiro Wada
Hiroshi Watanabe
Yusuke Myochin
Hiroaki Amano
Kenta Daibo
Koji Fujii
Makoto Hashiba
Shimpei Horinouchi
Takashi Kora
Shane Kosugi
Takeshi Maya
Seiji Mori
Lee Murayama
Ryoichi Noguchi
Takeru Shimizu
Shinji Suzuki
Hisao Takeda
Ryoichiro Yonekura
Tomoya Abe
Takayuki Akaike
Raymond Chan
Chris Chin
Masayuki Deai
Taiga Etoh
Nobuhiro Fujita
Kota Fukuchi
Koichi Funayama
Furuo Geiri
Masayoshi Haneda
Mitsuki Harada
Takeyuki Hirai
Brian Ho
Yukihiro Hokke
Hiroki Hoshino
Kogi Inoue
Hidetaro Ishibashi
Kiichiro Ishimoto
Koichi Ito
Toshihiko Ito
Kiyoshi Iwata
Toru Kadowaki
Ryoga Kajiwara
Yuhei Kametani
Takanobu Kaneko
Nagamasa Kato
Yoshitake Kato
Yoshihiko Kawamoto
Yuki Kawanishi
Yasunari Kinbara
Joe Kitamura
Hisataka Kitaoka
Masato Kobayashi
Mitsuki Koga
Teishu Kohata
Akira Koieyama
Akira Kojima
Yasuhiro Koshi
Misao Kurata
Jiro Maeda
Masayuki Maekawa
Takashi Maeyama
Yoshihiro Masujima
Fumio Matsuki
Shinji Matsumoto
Akihito Mimatsu
Shusuke Mitsuyoshi
Giorgio Miyashita
Hirokazu Miyata
Kenji Motomiya
Hiroyuki Muraoka
Naruhito Nakada
Motokuni Nakagawa
Ginji Nakamura
Satoshi Nakamura
Fred Nakanishi
Yuya Nakashima
Kiyonori Namikawa
Hidetomo Nishida
Akihiko Nishimura
Masaki Nishimura
Kosuke Oda
Toshiaki Ogawa
Masahiro Ogura
Kazuma Ohuchi
Tadashi Oiwa
James Okada
Daisuke Okano
Matt Okui
Mitsunori Omae
Atsushi Ono
Eijiro Ozaki
Shinobu Sakurai
Daisuke Sasagawa
Yuichiro Sasaki
Naruto Shigemi
Yoshinobu Shigemura
Kazuya Shimizu
Taku Shinya
Masashi Shirai
Shogo Shirasaka
Akihiro Soen
Susumu Suou
Takashi Taguchi
Ken Takagaki
Osamu Takahashi
Hiromi Takatani
Shusei Take
Teruhito Takita
Ryo Tanaka
Katsutoshi Uchibori
Hiroshi Uenoyama
Hajime Unesa
Tadashi Watanabe
Kazunori Yajima
Masayuki Yamada
Hideki Yamaguchi
Takashi Yamaguchi
Keisuke Yamamoto
Tetsuro Yamamoto
Yasunari Akita
Yoshihisa Asai
Yasuo Hiroki
Toru Ishida
Makoto Ito
Yuki Maekawa
Hidemitsu Nakadate
Ryuji Nakamura
Motohiro Okita
Nobuhiro Oshima
Satoru Shibue
Masaki Sono
Yuki Tanifuji
Tomohide Tanigawa
Crew
Tsuyoshi Abe
Nicole Abellera
William Acedo
Romulo Adriano Jr.
Cesar Aguirre
Janice Alexander
Deborah Alleck
James Allen
Mark Alston
Sal Alvarez
Daisuke Amano
Charlene Amateau
Alistair Anderson
Graeme Andrews
Slamm Andrews
Cesar Angebaldo
Peter Angles
Orion Archung
Craig Argent
Dawn Armstrong
Hiro Asari
Gunner Ashford
Christopher Assells
Drew Bailey
Alexandra Bain
Dana Baker
Sala Baker
Danny Baldwin
Terry Baliel
Ronald Baratie
Michele Barber
Trevor Barber
Sharon Bardsley
Carl Barnes
Roy Barnes
Jennifer Barrons
James Bayliss
Anna Behlmer
Bob Behr
Tov Belling
John Berger
Erik Bernstein
Stan Blackwell
Thomas Blake
Joel Blanchard
Tom Boland
Rudy Bonner
John Bonnin
Dave Booth
Louise Boothby
Tristan Bourne
Jamie Boyce
Tatjana Bozinovski
Rachel Bracegirdle
Steven Brennan
Josh Breslow
Bridget Brewer
Rick Broderman
Cheryl Brown
J. C. Brown
Thomas H. Brown
Tom Brown
Anne Bruning
Bob Buck
Andrew Buckley
Chris Burian-mohr
Lois Burwell
Jon Bush
Dean Bushby
Kevin Butson
Kami Calevro
Guy Campbell
Joanna Campbell
Lucinda Campbell
Gary Capo
Gary Capo
Javier Carillo
Paula Carswell
David Casey
Patrick Cassidy
Corey Castellano
Dean Caulfield
Mari-an Ceo
Ollie Chadwick
William Chalk
William 'rob' Chalk
Brent A. Chan
Lauro Chartrand
Del Chatterton
Mike Ching
Karl Chisholm
Dr. Kenji Cho
Phil Chong
Gunner Clancy
Dean Clarke
Peter Clarke
Dolores Clay
Peter Cleveland
Stacy Clinger
John Coats
Samuel M. Cobb
David A. Cohen
David Cole
Kim Coleman
Byron Connew
Sophia Cook
Kate Corrigan
Mick Corrigan
Jonathan Costelloe
James Cottle
Don Coufal
Paula Coulthard
Jason Cox
Jackie Old Coyote
Thomas 'mike' Craven
Tim Crosbie
Emma Cross
Lorraine Crossman
Ngaia Toroa Croyden
Tom Cruise
Ricardo Cruz
Vic Cuccia
Tulsi Cullen
Geoff Curtis
Lenny Dalrymple
Mitchell Dauterive
Alaynna Davis
Christine Davis
Richard Davis
Sarah Davis
R. Michael De Chellis
Kevin De La Noy
Steven Dearth
Dave Degaetano
Oscar Delgadillo
Ronald Denny
Kim Derry
Robert Deschane
Jean-jacques Desplanques
Sgt. Maj. James D. Dever
Geoff Dibben
Ngila Dickson
Lisa Chu Dietze
Dino Dimuro
Graham Dolan
Shirley Dolle
Louise Dove
Michael Doven
Shane Down
Victor Dubois
Amanda Duncan
Stephen Dunham
Mathew Dunne
Megan Dwyer
Polly Earnshaw
Craig Eastman
Don Easy
Greg Eby
Kristian Eek
Al Eisenmann Ii
Al Eisenmann
Katalin Elek
Zoltan Elek
Patrick Shining Elk
Maggie Elliot
Geoff Ellis
Tom Engelman
Victor Ennis
Steve Erdody
Terry Erickson
Josh Ernstrom
Kendall Errair
Sian Evans
Tim Everitt
John Fagan
Doug Falconer
John Paul Fasal
Michael Fauntleroy
Martha Fein
Guy Feldman
John Fenton
George Ferguson
Ted Field
Rick Findlater
Eric 'fish' Fishman
Tyson Fitzgerald
Elizabeth Flaherty
Vincent Flaherty
Patrick Flanagan
Paul Flinchbaugh
David Fogg
Sean Foot
Paul Ford
Dave Foreman
Alexandria Forster
Robyn Forster
Bruce Fowler
Billy "butch" Frank
Jessica Franks
Jessica Franks
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Supporting Actor
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
At the end of the film, the first time the cast credits appear, Tom Cruise is listed first and above title followed by principal actors. After initial crew credits, the cast is listed again in order of appearance. Opening voice-over narration by Timothy Spall, who portrayed "Simon Graham," describes the legend of the Japanese islands' formation. Throughout the film, Cruise, as the character "Nathan Algren," also provides voice-over narration from his notebooks, which recount his captivity, and growing interest and resulting conversion to the ways of the Samurai. Spall provides a voice-over narration at several other times in the film, explaining some historical context and concluding at the end of the film that although no one ever saw Algren again, he May have finally found peace. In the closing credits, special thanks was given to the following people: Government of New Zealand, The People of Taranaki, New Zealand, Peabody Essex Museum, Weta Workshop, City of Himeji, City of Kyoto, Engyoji Temple on Mt. Shosha and United Performers Studio.
The Last Samurai was based, in part, on the Samurai Revolt of 1876-1877 and the Meiji Restoration in a rapidly modernizing Japan. For hundreds of years, Samurai had acted as personal armies for warring land owners, but by the 1600s, Shogun Tokugawa created peace among the factions, causing the Samurai class to turn to more domestic life. By 1854, the Japanese had signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, opening the country to international trade. However, by 1868, the Samurai, disgruntled by poor wages, led a successful insurgency against the Shogunate regime, thus beginning the period known as the Meiji Restoration. The new genro, ruling court officials, abolished the ancient class system, redistributed land and banned the wearing of swords in public, a direct insult to the Samurai.
Information found in a September 2003 Premiere article and the pressbook on the film states that Radar Picture's producer Scott Kroopf claimed the original idea for the film was based on the first cattle drive in Japan during the country's modernization in the late 1870s. After several drafts from various writers, Kroopf hired Vincent Ward, who changed the cowboy drama into a saga about a Civil War veteran. After Ward and Kroopf went on to other projects, Zwick took charge of the film and hired John Logan to complete the script. The final screenplay includes writing from Academy Award-winning director Zwick and producer Marshall Herskovitz, who are both AFI alumni and longtime writing and producing partners.
Although the character of Algren is fictional, according to the pressbook, the character "Katsumoto" is based on Samurai warrior Saigo Takamori, who led the defeat against the Shogunate Army to restore imperial power. Additionally, Simon Graham was based on American photographer Lafcadio Hearn, who lived in Japan in the 1890s writing for Harper's and The Atlantic Monthly. Zwick stated that he was influenced by Takamori's story as it was told in the book The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris. After installing fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji, Takamori was appointed to the post of commander-in-chief of the armed services. Disgruntled by the Meiji regime opening its doors to western ideas, the more traditional Takamori soon retired from public service to Satsuma.
When he later discovered that the government, fearing a revolt, was monitoring him and his students, Takamori, insulted by the distrust, led his 20,000 Samurai into battle against the government's 50,000 soldiers, who were armed with Western firearms. In 1877, after months of battle, a wounded Takamori, unable to continue fighting, committed seppuku, a ritual suicide using the Samurai's own sword. Japanese still honor Takamori as a symbol of devotion to one's principles, although others believe he was a pampered and conservative aristocrat. The Samurai code, known as Bushido, emphasized loyalty, courage and sacrifice. It was also influenced by Zen Buddhism's concept of living in the moment and incorporated both meditation and the art of the "tea ceremony," which are both depicted in the film.
According to Tom Cruise, The Last Samurai, a book about the film published by Warner Bros., the brutal battles against Cheyenne Native Americans, which Algren relives in flashback sequences throughout the film, are based on two actual battles: the 1864 Sand Creek, CO massacre and the 1868 attack at the Washita River in Oklahoma Indian Territory by General George Armstrong Custer on the same tribe, which had surrendered only days before.
According to the pressbook, Cruise trained for over eight months to perfect Japanese swordsmanship and martial arts, and performed all his own stunts during over two months of battle sequences. Supporting actor Ken Watanabe also trained intensely and performed most of his stunts. Over 400 New Zealanders, including 75 of Japanese ancestry, and 600 Japanese extras were used in the film.
Meiji-era costumes created by award-winning designer Ngila Dickson and her 80-member team included over 250 sets of armor and period dress for village life, American Indian wars and diverse Japanese street scenes. Portions of the film were shot at Kyoto, Mt. Shosha, the village of Himeji and nearby Engyoji Temple, Japan, which had not allowed filming on the premise previously. Shooting also took place in Los Angeles, CA, where the Warner Bros. New York Street lot was turned into the congested 19th century Ginza district in Tokyo. New Zealand locations included New Plymouth, the Lake Mangamahoe area and the Taranaki region, where set decorators planted period gardens and hundreds of pear, apple, cherry and bamboo trees to recreate a rural Samurai village.
According to a January 14, 2003 HR article, members of the Maori, indigenous New Zealanders, objected to filming at Taranaki, which they consider sacred, and sought compensation for the footage of the mountain. The outcome of this dispute is undetermined.
An November 11, 2003 DV article states that writer Garner Simmons filed charges against the Writers Guild of America-West (WGA) for their refusal to arbitrate his writing credit on The Last Samurai. Simmons argued that he and Michael Alan Eddy wrote a script with a plot similar to that of the film in 1992, and Warner Bros. refused to give them writing credit onscreen for their initial work. After the WGA found insufficient evidence of a link between the two scripts in a "participating writers investigation," Simmons and Eddy appealed to the WGA Board, but were refused an arbitration hearing. A January 6, 2004 Los Angeles Times article reported that Eddy filed a federal lawsuit against the WGA on January 5, 2004, accusing them of spurning his efforts to secure proper writing credit and compensation for his screenplay by blocking Eddy from entering the arbitration proceedings. Documentation filed that week states that Interscope Communications, predecessor to Radar Pictures, paid Eddy for a screenplay entitled Eastern Western and then hired Simmons to rewrite the script, which was retitled West of the Rising Sun. The article then states that Ward gave this draft to Zwick, who stated that this draft was the script about an early Japanese cattle drive. A March 26, 2004 Los Angeles Times article states that a federal judge dismissed a suit filed by Eddy against Zwick, Herskovitz, Radar Pictures Inc. and Warner Bros., in which he had accused them of depriving him of onscreen credit writing credit. This ruling did not effect Eddy's federal lawsuit against the WGA, which Eddy continued to pursue. The outcome of this suit is unknown.
As noted in a December 19, 2003 Entertainment Weekly article, The Last Samurai marked the first American feature film role for actor Ken Watanabe, a famous Japanese film and television actor. The picture also marked the film debuts of Shichinosuke Nakamura and kung-fu expert Shin Koyamada. In addition to being selected as one of AFI's top ten films of 2003, The Last Samurai was selected as one of the top ten films by the National Board of Review, which also named Zwick as Best Director of 2003.
The film was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role-Drama (Cruise), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Watanabe) and Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer). Watanabe received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor by the Screen Actors Guild. Additionally, producers Herskovitz, Zwick, Cruise and Paula Wagner were nominated for the PGA's Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award. The Art Directors Guild nominated the picture for Best Production Design of a Period or Fantasy Film. The Last Samurai also received Academy Award nominations in the following categories: Art Direction/Set Decoration, Costume Design, Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor (Watanabe).
Miscellaneous Notes
Winner of the 2004 Best Director award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Voted one of the 10 best films of 2003 by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Winner of the 2003 award for Best Director (Edward Zwick) by the National Board of Review.
Winner of the 2003 award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture by the Visual Effects Society (VES).
Released in United States Winter December 5, 2003
Released in United States on Video May 4, 2004
Released in United States Winter December 5, 2003
Released in United States on Video May 4, 2004
Nominated for the 2004 Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) award for Best Supporting Actor (Ken Watanabe).
