FX’s Shōgun is the best show of the year by some margin. The impeccably crafted period piece builds out complex and memorable characters and an impressive portrait of Japan at the turn of the 17th century, and every decision — down to the smallest details — reflects the clear artistic intent and spirit of collaboration behind the series.
The action might not be what some people expected, though — especially not with the Game of Thrones comparison the show has garnered. Rather than long, drawn-out sword duels, Shōgun’s action is as decisive as it is violent, as fights usually happen in an instant. It brings a palpable sense of danger to the show, and is a constant reminder of the danger of the weapons being used. Stunt coordinator and second unit director Lauro David Chartrand-DelValle saw Shōgun as an opportunity to avoid the lengthy, unrealistic sword fights where combatants are “clacking over their head.”
“They’re swinging up here and somebody’s blocking up,” he says, gesturing above his head. “Why are you blocking it? That sword is just going over your head, so just, you know, take his guts out.”
Instead, the goal was to keep the action grounded in reality and aimed toward aiding in the building out of the epic story at the heart of the show. That was a change of pace for a lot of the crew, who Chartrand-DelValle said were coming from shows with “a lot of filler” and 40-beat fight scenes that, while entertaining, lack the intensity and finality of fights in Shōgun. “I had to emphasize all the time: Go for the target. If you’re cutting, you’re cutting for the neck, take his head off, you know — especially with armor, you’re trying to get under the armpit, you’re trying to get the back of the leg. It’s got to be real, it’s got to be the target, and if you’re not doing that I call bullshit and we’re just going to start over again.”
Over two decades ago, Chartrand-DelValle worked with Shōgun star Hiroyuki Sanada on the Tom Cruise blockbuster The Last Samurai. The two hit it off, and when Sanada learned Shōgun would be shooting in Vancouver — not far from where the Canadian Chartrand-DelValle is based — the actor told the producers they should give his old collaborator a call. That movie cemented the approach Chartrand-DelValle uses to this day as an explicit call and response before filming a big action sequence.
“The producers and directors laughed at us,” he says. “We’d start a big scenario [and it would go] ‘OK, you guys ready? Here we go, rolling cameras, and what are we not going to have?’ ‘No bullshit!!!’ everyone screams out, and then we get into the fight.”
Another reason the show’s action feels so real is the amount of time and dedication the team was able to spend on it. Before shooting, there was a six-week boot camp to train actors, extras, and “everybody in between.” “You just don’t get this, especially with TV shows,” he says. “On films, a lot of times we’ll get months of rehearsal. But on TV, it’s usually not that way. And we only had a [limited] shooting window. But we were so prepped beforehand, when we got to set, it was smooth as silk. It was all about just capturing it with the camera because we knew what we were doing. Everybody was on board. Nobody was trying to change stuff. We weren’t making it up on the day.”
The show used painted bamboo swords on set to simulate the katanas, with one scene — when Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe) slices through shoji screens — using a real blade. That wasn’t the only place the show had to give in on authenticity in favor of safety. Shōgun was a “hugely” collaborative show, Chartrand-DelValle says, as anyone who has read the showrunners’ comments about working with cultural consultants can tell. The many technical advisors and interpreters on set were involved in “everything [they] did,” per Chartrand-DelValle, from the way people fought to the way they walked.
“Say, with Mariko, with Anna [Sawai],” he says. “She had to walk very short steps and couldn’t have wide stances. It’s just not what they did back in the day. And we constantly went back and forth. Because there were some ambush sequences, and it’s very chaotic, and nobody knows what’s going on. And you’re just fighting for your life. And I often said, and Anna backed me up, ‘She’s gonna take bigger steps.’ She’s trying to save somebody’s life or her life; it’s just gonna happen. But they wouldn’t [have done] it. That would dishonor them, and then they’d have to kill themselves.”
They got what Chartrand-DelValle calls “a very minute amount of leeway” on this when Mariko tries to fight her way out of the castle. Ultimately, the passion of the scene overrode the period concerns (“It made me cry on the day,” he says), and stayed true to the Shōgun ethos of quick and decisive action. Though there were around 40 people involved in the scene, it all feels like it’s over in an instant, as guards on both sides are cut down quickly — by sword, by spear, or by bow. In Shōgun’s battles, nobody truly wins. The stakes are too high and the weapons far too deadly for that.
One place Shōgun had to stray from reality was much closer to the ground: footwear.
“Nobody apparently wore shoes back in those days,” Chartrand-DelValle says. “We had to put shoes on our stunt people and our actors. We’re in rocks and sticks and muddy areas, and it was wintertime. You couldn’t be barefoot.”
The collaborative nature and presence of many experts made the experience “fun and educational” for Chartrand-DelValle, whose background is in Japanese martial arts training after studying under legendary Master Fumio Demura (Pat Morita’s martial arts stunt double in multiple Karate Kid movies).
“I knew a lot of it, but not to the extent that we were doing it on Shōgun,” he says. “With TV and movies, you’ve got to take a little bit of creative license here and there. Who was around in 1600? None of us, right? We’re all going by stuff we’re reading, stuff that was handed down through generations.”
For Chartrand-DelValle, it all goes back to Sanada. His constant presence on the set — suggesting adjustments, sharing his knowledge, and overall being a mentor — helped set the Shōgun team up for success and establish a collaborative environment. “He’s so giving with all his knowledge and his abilities,” he says. “He’s just got such a calm demeanor. And he makes everybody feel comfortable. When he says something, he’s speaking from knowledge. I would work with him any day, every day of the week on any project, you know, because he’s going to bring that to everything he does.”
And best of all for Chartrand-DelValle, it’s his previous collaboration with Sanada that gave him the opportunity to work on this special show.
“You get one chance to do a samurai epic in your lifetime, but to get a second chance?” Chartrand-DelValle says. “Two of them? I was like, Yeah, bring it on.”
Shōgun is streaming on Hulu.
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