#akira kurosawa

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babeltwo: “ “ “They told me, ‘You have a gangster’s face, you ought to do well in this,’” Mifune recalled. “But then they told me to cry, and I said, “How can I cry when I’m not sad?’ Then they asked me to get angry, and I got too angry and failed...
babeltwo

“They told me, ‘You have a gangster’s face, you ought to do well in this,’” Mifune recalled. “But then they told me to cry, and I said, “How can I cry when I’m not sad?’ Then they asked me to get angry, and I got too angry and failed the test.”

[…]

Kurosawa: “A young man was reeling around the room in a violent frenzy. It was as frightening as watching a wounded or trapped savage beast trying to break loose. I stood transfixed. But it turned out that this young man was not really in a rage, but had drawn “anger” as the emotion he had to express in his screen test. He was acting. When he finished his performance, he regained his chair with an exhausted demeanor, flopped down and began to glare menacingly at the judges.  Now, I knew very well that this kind of behavior was a cover for shyness, but the jury seemed to be interpreting it as disrespect. 

I found the young man strangely attractive, and concern over the judges’ decision began to distract me from my work.”

Mifune and Kurosawa’s thoughts on Mifune’s screen test for Toho’s New Faces of 1946 (from The Emperor and the Wolf by Stuart Galbraith IV).

Toshiro MifuneAkira Kurosawa