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Backstory was given the opportunity to exclusively interview the filmmakers behind four of the groundbreaking shorts featured in Star Wars Visions. Below, THE ELDER writer/director Masahiko Otsuka speaks about the possible final work of his career. (Note: All answers were given in Japanese and translated to English.)
By Danny Munso
Director Masahiko Otsuka’s career was in a period of great transition when the opportunity to work on Star Wars: Visions presented itself. Otsuka forms one half — along with Hiroyuki Imaishi, himself a contributor to Visions with his short “The Twins” — of the duo that founded Studio Trigger, one of the more acclaimed independent anime companies in Japan. “The Elder” will represent final film of Otsuka’s storied career. In fact, he had actually already announced his retirement when the lure of working on Star Wars proved too great to pass up. Even in the conception of the storyline for his short — which follows a Jedi Master named Tajin and his Padawan, Dan, as they come face-to-face with a mysterious older man who is strong with the Dark Side of the Force — Otsuka was reflecting back on his own transition into a mentor. “The Master-Padawan relationship corresponds to the teacher-student relationship between samurai and also overlaps with the relationship between me and the studio staff,” he says. “It’s a really strong theme.”
“The Elder” is a quiet, deliberate film told with minimal movement and action. Even the incredible visuals that accompany the final battle between the two Jedi and the Elder are patient and restrained. “Since my student days, I have always wanted to make a Japanese period drama with a Star Wars sensibility,” Otsuka says. “So when this chance came along, I came up with this idea of a Star Wars period drama. My aim was to have characters with well-depicted stories, which led to keeping the action parts shorter in length.” It is also, not coincidentally, a direct contrast to Studio Trigger’s other Visions short. Imaishi’s “The Twins” is a bombastic and loud visual feast, and Otsuka thought his own effort should be very different from his longtime partner’s. “Hiroyuki has a very clear style so that was the reason I decided not to do an action piece. I thought it would be dull if Trigger produced two similar works, so I took the opposite direction.”
To capture his short’s unique characters, Otsuka brought in famed manga artist Kamome Shirahama as character designer. “We were very lucky,” Otsuka says. “I imagined we would probably be refused because she is a very popular artist who must be very busy. But I heard she was a fan of Star Wars so I made the offer. She said, ‘I can’t refuse an offer to work on Star Wars!’” The most striking and eye-catching design in the short is that of the Elder himself, who appears to meld an old samurai with that of a demon with empty evil eyes. Shirahama and Otsuka also gave him unique lightsabers in the style of Japanese katanas. Yet it was the character of Dan—a kind young man unprepared for this struggle against the Dark Side — who was the real reason Otsuka wanted Shirahama’s expertise. “I thought it would be amazing if she used her delicate touch for the design of Dan. He is a very gentle character.”
In the midst of a taut story that culminates in a brutal battle, Dan emerges as the heartbeat of Otsuka’s short. This is emblematic in a scene as the Jedi investigate the possible Dark Side presence on the planet and Dan begins entertaining and playing with some local children. The scene plays out with no dialogue, actually becoming quite poignant. “I wanted to include a relaxing scene in the middle of such a tense story,” Otsuka says. “The scene was required to show us his gentleness. Communicating without using words is proof that Dan has a knack for opening up to children on different planets.”
If this is truly it for Otsuka’s stellar career, it seems fitting he would finish as part of the world that inspired him in the first place. “Watching Star Wars as a student made me decide to work with video,” he says. “The Star Wars movies changed my life.” However, not everything worked out the way Otsuka hoped for on Visions. The project was conceived just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Lucasfilm had to scrap its original plan to fly each of the filmmaking teams to Northern California to mix their movie in person at the legendary Skywalker Sound. “It was disappointing because it was something I was really looking forward to. If I have another chance to do a mix at Skywalker Sound, I will immediately come back from retirement!”
Read the rest of our VISIONS coverage:
The Duel interview
Tatooine Rhapsody interview
The Village Bride interview
Producers interview
Star Wars Visions is streaming on Disney+ now
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