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Shōgun won 18 Emmys in 2024, the most any show has ever won in one season. Hiroyuki Sanada has been acting since 1966. Shōgun was the first time any studio ever gave him a producer credit. That single word in the credits is why.
The tweet you're seeing makes it sound like Sanada walked into a room, slammed his fist on a table, and refused to sign until the studio respected Japan. The full story is quieter and explains a lot about how Hollywood actually decides what to make.
Sanada was first asked to play Toranaga around 2016. He asked the studio one question: would they hire Japanese actors and crew specialists for each department. They said yes. He signed on. The show then sat in limbo for years.
In 2020, the new showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks took over and asked Sanada to come on as a producer. It was the first producer credit anyone had ever given him in nearly 60 years of acting. His words to USA Today: "It means I can say anything, anytime."
Sanada moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s and got his first big role in The Last Samurai in 2003, opposite Tom Cruise. The two became friends after a moment on set where Cruise insisted Sanada use a real samurai sword in their fight scene. Sanada swung the blade up to Cruise's neck and stopped just short of drawing blood. Cruise didn't blink.
After that film, almost every time Hollywood made a project set in Japan, they called Sanada. He consulted on 47 Ronin, The Wolverine, Mortal Kombat, Westworld and others as the actor. On set he would adjust how a sword was being held or fix armor that had been put on backwards, then walk young cast members through how someone in 17th-century Japan would have moved.
He kept hitting the same wall. He told Backstage magazine: "I started feeling the limit of saying something just as an actor. It was a hesitation, I don't want to break their pride, the crews."
When you are only the actor, you can suggest things to the director and the costume team but you cannot make them happen. You cannot fire someone who keeps getting it wrong, and you cannot bring in the specialists you know in Tokyo. You are a guest in someone else's house, and there is only so much you can rearrange before being rude.
A producer can. The minute they put the title next to his name, Sanada brought in Japanese specialists for every department, from a master of gestures and period movement advisers to a Kabuki-style stage movement coach and obi-tying experts. Co-creator Rachel Kondo told Rolling Stone it was as if Sanada had been waiting 20 years to make those phone calls.
The show came out in February 2024 and swept the Emmys seven months later. Eighteen wins, beating a record HBO's John Adams had held since 2008. First non-English show to ever win Best Drama at the Emmys. Sanada became the first Japanese actor in history to win a Primetime Emmy. His co-star Anna Sawai became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress in a Drama. The first episode racked up 9 million views in its first six days, beating the premiere of The Bear season 2.
The clip you are watching is the visible top of a very deep iceberg. Underneath is a 63-year-old who had been pushing for the same thing for 20 years, in the small ways an actor is allowed to push, until someone finally handed him the title that let him push out loud.
Best Movie Moments 🍿@BestMovieMom
Hiroyuki Sanada agreed to star in Shōgun on one strict condition. He demanded the studio hire Japanese experts for every single department to avoid Hollywood stereotypes. He refused to sign the contract until he was sure the history would be respected.
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