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 After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater creative freedom. Drunken Angel (1948) was the first film he made without extensive studio interference, and marked his first collaboration with Toshir? Mifune. In the coming decades, the two would make 16 movies together, and Mifune became as closely associated with Kurosawa's films as was John Wayne with the films of Kurosawa's idol, John Ford. After working in a wide range of genres, Kurosawa made his international breakthrough film Rashomon (1950) in 1950. It won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and first revealed the richness of Japanese cinema to the West. The next few years saw the low-key, touching Ikiru (1952) (Living), the epic Seven Samurai (1954), the barbaric, riveting Shakespeare adaptation Throne of Blood (1957), and a fun pair of samurai comedies Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). After a lean period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though, Kurosawa attempted suicide. He survived, and made a small, personal, low-budget picture with Dodes'ka-den (1970), a larger-scale Russian co-production Dersu Uzala (1975) and, with the help of admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, the samurai tale Kagemusha (1980), which Kurosawa described as a dry run for Ran (1985), an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear." He continued to work into his eighties with the more personal Dreams (1990), Rhapsody in August (1991) and Madadayo (1993). Kurosawa's films have always been more popular in the West than in his native Japan, where critics have viewed his adaptations of Western genres and authors (William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Maxim Gorky and Evan Hunter) with suspicion - but he's revered by American and European film-makers, who remade Rashomon (1950) as The Outrage (1964), Seven Samurai (1954), as The Magnificent Seven (1960), Yojimbo (1961), as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and The Hidden Fortress (1958), as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
Bio:
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater creative freedom. Drunken Angel (1948) was the first film he made without extensive studio interference, and marked his first collaboration with Toshir? Mifune. In the coming decades, the two would make 16 movies together, and Mifune became as closely associated with Kurosawa's films as was John Wayne with the films of Kurosawa's idol, John Ford. After working in a wide range of genres, Kurosawa made his international breakthrough film Rashomon (1950) in 1950. It won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and first revealed the richness of Japanese cinema to the West. The next few years saw the low-key, touching Ikiru (1952) (Living), the epic Seven Samurai (1954), the barbaric, riveting Shakespeare adaptation Throne of Blood (1957), and a fun pair of samurai comedies Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). After a lean period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though, Kurosawa attempted suicide. He survived, and made a small, personal, low-budget picture with Dodes'ka-den (1970), a larger-scale Russian co-production Dersu Uzala (1975) and, with the help of admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, the samurai tale Kagemusha (1980), which Kurosawa described as a dry run for Ran (1985), an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear." He continued to work into his eighties with the more personal Dreams (1990), Rhapsody in August (1991) and Madadayo (1993). Kurosawa's films have always been more popular in the West than in his native Japan, where critics have viewed his adaptations of Western genres and authors (William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Maxim Gorky and Evan Hunter) with suspicion - but he's revered by American and European film-makers, who remade Rashomon (1950) as The Outrage (1964), Seven Samurai (1954), as The Magnificent Seven (1960), Yojimbo (1961), as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and The Hidden Fortress (1958), as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
Tivia:
His films are frequently copied and remade by American and European filmmakers.Although the Japanese press tried to paint him as a tyrant, almost all of his casts and crews agreed he was a much more cool and detached presence on sets. Many also described him as "intense".According to his family, he rarely thought about anything other than films. Even when at home, he would sit around silently, apparently composing shots in his head.He was voted the 6th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him one among only two Asians along with Satyajit Ray (who is ranked in 25th position) on a list of 50 directors and the highest ranking non-American.At around 6' feet, he was extremely tall by Japanese standards, having stood a head taller than any of his colleagues.Because he could not get film financing for a period of time in his career, he directed and even appeared in Japanese television commercials.He had a son Hisao (b. 20-Dec-1945), and a daughter, award-winning film costume designer Kazuko (b. 29-Apr-1954).Many of his early films were produced by Jin Usami who was also chief assistant director to Kurosawa on "Snow Trail" which was the film debut of Toshiro Mifune.Toho Film producer Jin Usami's wife, Sayuri Tanima starred in a number of Kurosawa's early films. |
| Name: |
Akira Kurosawa |
Type: |
Writer,Director,Second Unit Director or Assistant Director (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
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Business scope: |
Writer,Director,Second Unit Director or Assistant Director |
| Products for sale: |
Writer,Director,Second Unit Director or Assistant Director |
| Model rank: |
399 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 04:01:38 |
| Height: |
5' 11?' (1.82 m) |
| Biography: |
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had |
| Trivia: |
His films are frequently copied and remade by American and European filmmakers.Although the Japanese press tried to paint him as a tyrant, almost all of his casts and crews agreed he was a much more cool and detached presence on sets. Many also described him as "intense".According to his family, he rarely thought about anything other than films. Even when at home, he would sit around silently, apparently composing shots in his head.He was voted the 6th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him one among only two Asians along with Satyajit Ray (who is ranked in 25th position) on a list of 50 directors and the highest ranking non-American.At around 6' feet, he was extremely tall by Japanese standards, having stood a head taller than any of his colleagues.Because he could not get film financing for a period of time in his career, he directed and even appeared in Japanese television commercials.He had a son Hisao (b. 20-Dec-1945), and a daughter, award-winning film costume designer Kazuko (b. 29-Apr-1954).Many of his early films were produced by Jin Usami who was also chief assistant director to Kurosawa on "Snow Trail" which was the film debut of Toshiro Mifune.Toho Film producer Jin Usami's wife, Sayuri Tanima starred in a number of Kurosawa's early films. |
| Trademarks: |
Frequently uses the "wipe effect" to fade from one scene to another.
Painterly compositions.
Likes to do Shakespearan plays in Feudal Japanese settings.
Use of weather to heighten mood, most obviously rain.
Female characters that are usually either sweet but weak and submissive or are deceitful, evil and conniving. Exceptions include Princess Yuki from 'The Hidden Fortress', who is willful and good-hearted, and Mutsuta's wife from 'Sanjuro', who is gentle and kind but sharp and intelligent. |
| Quotes: |
For me, film-making combines everything. That's the reason I've made cinema my life's work. In films painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.
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Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.
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The characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they've been given. I believe you must live honestly and develop your abilities to the full. People who do this are the real heroes.
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With a good script, a good director can produce a masterpiece. With the same script, a mediocre director can produce a passable film. But with a bad script even a good director can't possibly make a good film. For truly cinematic expression, the camera and the microphone must be able to cross both fire and water. The script must be something that has the power to do this.
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In all my films, there's three or maybe four minutes of real cinema. |
| Job title: |
Writer,Director,Second Unit Director or Assistant Director |
| Others works: |
(1983) Book: ""Something Like An Autobiography". ISBN: 0394714393, 030780321X
(2010) His play, "Throne of Blood," was performed in an Oregon Shakespeare Festival production at the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, Oregon. Bill Rau |
| Spouse: |
Y?ko Yaguchi (May 21, 1945 - February 1, 1985) (her death, 2 children) |
| Children: |
Kazuko KurosawaHisao Kurosawa |
| Parents: |
Shima Kurosawa
Isamu Kurosawa |
| Relatives: |
Takayuki Kat? (Grandchild)
Y? Kurosawa (Grandchild) |
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