Deadline reports that Hiro Murai will make his feature directorial debut with Bushido. The samurai movie will be financed by A24, who will produce alongside Square Peg and 2AM.
Not much is known about Bushido yet, only that it will be a “high-stakes action film set against the backdrop of feudal Japan.” I’m always down for more samurai movies, so I’m certainly not complaining. Murai will direct from a script by Henry Dunham (The Standoff at Sparrow Creek). The pair will also produce alongside Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen for Square Peg, and Julia Oh, Christine D’Souza, and David Hinojosa for 2AM.
Murai is best known for directing and executive producing Donald Glover’s Atlanta. He helmed more than half the series’ episodes. He’s also directed episodes of Legion, Snowfall, Barry, Station Eleven, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Murai has worked with Glover frequently; in addition to Atlanta and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, he’s also directed several music videos for Glover’s Childish Gambino persona, including This Is America. He also helmed Guava Island, the Amazon music film starring Glover and Rihanna.
Thanks to the success of FX’s Shōgun, samurai stories are getting bigger once again. Based on the novel by James Clavell, Shōgun was FX’s most expensive television series, but it paid off big time with rave reviews and an impressively large audience. It also took home Emmy Awards for Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Actress (Anna Sawai), and more. Although initially billed as a limited series, a second installment is in the works.
The official synopsis for Shōgun: “The 10-episode limited series is set in Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Producer Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga who is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. When a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.” You can check out a review of Shōgun from our own Alex Maidy right here.