Did You Know?
Kinji Fukasaku was originally slated to direct, but had to bow out when he discovered his lead actor could only be available for periods of ten days at a time due to television commitments. The lead actor Takeshi Kitano already cast as Azuma, offered the job after a joking reference to possibly doing it, took over the director's chair after heavily rewriting the script to remove all traces of comedy.
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The original script was a comedy. Kitano was then very concerned about the audience recognizing his acting skills and he didn't feel that a comedy would allow him to act nor allow the audience to abstract from his comic TV personality. So he rewrote the script, removed all comedy and turned it into a drama.
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Kitano insisted on long takes. Close-ups easily lasted 10 seconds, medium shots went on for 20 seconds and the shot where Azuma (Kitano) walks onto the bridge and into the frame lasted 57 seconds.
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