You know, I’ve got an admission to make. I’ve got a project which keeps popping in my head. I know a lot of History, and certain people in history to me are irresistible. The history of Balthasar Hubmeier really needs a Mel Gibson to direct it, but he never would. It would take some serious convincing to get him to do it. If you know who Balthasar Hubmaier is, you’d know why.
But, there’s a pivotal person in history that I remain fascinated with, because I could see how a biography movie of him would be a HUGE epic story, since after all his life was a huge epic story. By this I mean Tokugawa.
Yes, I said Tokugawa. Ieyasu Tokugawa. Changed his name seven times, his parents taken from him early on, forced to be a hostage until he was fourteen, then expected to go and immediately be the Daimyo (samurai lord) of his family. You can almost see the fourteen year old’s thoughts at that point. “I can be Shogun.”
The future of Asia was almost set in stone from that moment. History had conspired to make him strong almost from birth. If you attempt to show the humanness of Tokugawa and Ishida as well as the might and power of both… it would make a compelling movie.
I’ve got an article on how to write a movie script in 30 days. At some point, I’m going to do it, and the subject may well be Tokugawa, because I’m a real nerd for Military history. And while I’m aware that there was a book and TV movie made about James Clavell’s book “Shogun”, it truly falls VERY short of the power and majesty any movie about Tokugawa should elicit.
And of course, prior to filming, one would need to sit with the head of the Ishida clan and the Tokugawa clan and get permission. You can proceed without it, but hey, POLITENESS is everything in Japanese society.
