The Last Samurai was a departure from typical Tom Cruise movies up until that point. At the time, the actor was (and still is) best known for his association with action-packed franchises like Mission: Impossible and sci-fi films like Minority Report and Vanilla Sky. However, The Last Samurai represented a slight detour in Cruise’s career as he took on a more dramatic role in an epic historical drama. While his previous roles focused more on action and stunts, The Last Samurai required Cruise to delve more into the emotional and psychological aspects of his character.
Cruise’s character, Captain Nathan Algren, is a disillusioned American soldier grappling with issues involving identity, loyalty, and honor who undergoes a significant moral transformation. Even though The Last Samurai required a slightly different type of performance from Cruise, he approached it with the same level of physical and technical training he applies to his other roles. To play a soldier-turned-samurai, Cruise underwent extensive physical and technical training in sword fighting and the martial arts. Cruise’s usual dedication to authenticity, combined with the more dramatic demands of the role, is perfectly captured by Algren’s battle with Ujio in The Last Samurai.
Source: Corridor Crew
- Release Date
- December 5, 2003
- Director
- Edward Zwick
- Cast
- Shin Koyamada , Ken Watanabe , Koyuki Kato , Tom Cruise , Tony Goldwyn
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 154 minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Genres
- Action , Drama
- Writers
- Edward Zwick , John Logan , Marshall Herskovitz
- Website
- https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/last-samurai
- Cinematographer
- John Toll
- Producer
- Paula Wagner, Tom Engelman, Edward Zwick, Tom Cruise, Marshall Herskovitz, Scott Kroopf
- Production Company
- Warner Bros., Cruise/Wagner Productions, Radar Pictures, The Bedford Falls Company
- Sfx Supervisor
- Cosmas Paul Bolger Jr., Steve Ingram
- Budget
- $140 million
