Trivia for
Kagemusha (1980) More at IMDbPro »

• Much of the film recounts actual historical events, including Shingen's death and the two-year secret, and the climactic Battle of Nagashino in 1575. Those scenes are also modeled closely on detailed accounts of the battle.
  
  
• To secure part of the funding required to make the film, Akira Kurosawa teamed up with the Suntory Whiskey company to create advertisements for the drink on the set of "Kagemusha". These advertisements are included as extras on the Criterion edition DVD.
  
  
• When Toho Studios couldn't fulfill the budget demands of the film, American film directors George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola helped Akira Kurosawa by convincing 20th Century-Fox (still riding high after the success of Lucas' Star Wars (1977)) to fund the remaining portion of the budget in exchange for "Kagemusha"'s international distribution rights.
  
  
• Shintarô Katsu was originally slated to play the lead role but he was dismissed by Kurasawa after Katsu came to a rehearsal with a video camera and said he wanted to document the experience for an acting class he was teaching.
  
  
• This became the final feature film for one of director Akira Kurosawa's favorite actors, Takashi Shimura. Shimura would pass away in 1982.
  
  
• In Region 1 territories, this was Akira Kurosawa's first film to be released on the Blu-Ray Disc format.
  
  

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