Chad Stahelski, director of the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima movie has stated in an exclusive interview with Collider that he intends to make the movie as authentic to Japan as possible. This means both the voice acting and cast choices will be from Japan, and he has Sony’s full support on that.
The director has a deep love for Japan, for the people, the culture, and the language. Ghost of Tsushima went to great lengths to portray the historical island of Tsushima not just in a historical context, but also to show the life of the Japanese inhabitants and what they really fought for. The voices of the winds carried through the Sakura trees, and the cherry blossoms floating in the wind to create majestic landscapes. Chad Stahelski wants to push the story, which he considers timeless, beyond what the renowned director Akira Kurosawa did in his influential movies.
The Ghost of Tsushima director says he is in love with silent movies and how they convey feelings without words or language. He is very open about his love for them and believes that the success of the actors in the last era, like Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Chan is due to their beautiful soundless design. Back then, these actors did not really have to speak a specific language for the viewer to understand them, as all of the emotion was shown on their faces, and the viewer could identify with them without any cultural or language barriers.
The director is, however, aware of two things. First of all, no one would fund his movie or go to theatres if the actors did not speak English. The second is that he wants as many people to understand the story of Ghost of Tsushima and enjoy the fights as much as possible, so he isn’t mindlessly intent on copying and pasting the Japanese influences into his movie, like the Haiku poems, but also reworking them in a way that modern western viewers will love and adore. It’s a dangerous bet, but he believes he can do the original story justice.
Speaking to Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Stahelski said “I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning. It’s character driven. It’s got an opportunity for great action, great looks. And honestly, we’d to try to do it, all in character. Meaning, it’s a Japanese thing about the Mongols invading Tsushima island. A complete Japanese cast, in Japanese”. He then went on to express how Sony is completely on board with the idea.
So it seems as though Ghost of Tsushima will be a Japanese movie, but it will be made for everyone to enjoy. The game had the ability to turn on Japanese voices, and even apply the Kurosawa filter for maximum immersion, but a movie won’t have these options so there is a larger burden about catering to everyone’s different tastes. Chad Stahelski is known for being a stunt man in many movies, and also for his amazing work on the John Wick series. For a work that requires a lot of expressions and body language from the actors to convey a story from a different culture, he is definitely the man for the job.
