How ‘Shōgun’ Found Its Way – Behind The Scenes On FX’s Hit With Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, And Tadanobu Asano
deadline.comIt’s a late April afternoon when Shōgun breakout star Anna Sawai, who stars as the fierce Lady Toda Mariko in the gorgeously wrought, sharply modernized adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 bestseller, spots castmate Tadanobu Asano and producer-star Hiroyuki Sanada across a studio floor.
Her face lights up. It hasn’t even been a week since FX’s runaway hit historical drama ended its debut season on a breathtaking note of bittersweet catharsis, having enthralled viewers over 10 episodes with its sweeping saga of survival and sacrifice in 17th Century Japan.
But as the rising actress reunites with her Shōgun co-stars, a new charge of electricity crackles in the air. Mariko-sama, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, and the impish schemer Kashigi Yabushige, together again in another life. (Well, Los Angeles.) The trio has traveled from far-flung cities to mark a groundbreaking moment in which Shōgun is setting sail for a new destination: the Emmys.
It was not long ago that Sawai, at a turning point in her own burgeoning career, asked the question on everyone’s mind in her first meeting with Shōgun creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo: “Why do you want to remake this?” Clavell’s novel, based on feudal Japanese history, sold 7 million copies decades prior and had been, either famously or infamously, adapted into a 1980 miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune, spinoff video games, and even a stage musical, inspiring countless Hollywood derivatives that centered white saviors at the expense of Asian characters.
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