Fox Entertainment - The Making of 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' (2001) Part 1 History Through the Lens Tora! Tora! Tora! - A Giant Awakes

This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. The year is 1941 and diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan are at an all-time low. Diplomatic means are attempted through Washington, but they fail. Isoroku Yamamoto is named commander of the Japanese Navy and is to execute a surprise attack on the United States. The attack is planned for the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Some Intel about the coming attack is decoded by the U.S., but they do not believe it. Plus they have no idea where the Japanese will attack. The days leading up to the attack are depicted along with the actual attack that brought the U.S. into World War II. More than 30 years before Clint Eastwood told the story of Iwo Jima from both the American and Japanese points of view in “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima”, Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck followed a similar impulse to explore the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” was Zanuck’s attempt to recapture the cinematic alchemy of his earlier hit “The Longest Day”, which explored the events of D-Day from multiple perspectives and met with monumental commercial success. Deciding to apply the same approach to Dec. 7, 1941, Zanuck enlisted producer Elmo Williams to assemble two crews, one American and one Japanese, to tell their respective countries' sides of the event. Fox stalwart Richard Fleischer was placed in charge of the American team, and the legendary Akira Kurosawa was assigned to direct the Japanese sequences. Unfortunately, Kurosawa clashed with studio executives and found it impossible to adapt to the American way of making pictures; he was quickly replaced by Kinji Fukasaku, who directed the action scenes, and Toshio Masuda, who helmed the more dialogue-driven character material. The film's journalistic attention to detail, combined with the sheer scope of the project, quickly led to a ballooning budget, and at a final cost of S25 million, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” was one of the most expensive films ever made at the time of its release.

Part 1 History Through the Lens Tora! Tora! Tora! - A Giant Awakes

Richard D Zanuck presided over the day-to-day business at 20th Century Fox for his father Darryl when Tora! Tora! Tora! was conceived. In the 90minute documentary “History Through the Lens Tora! Tora! Tora! — A Giant Awakes” , he talks about their aspirations to “accuracy” and the unforeseen challenges that saw the budget spiral out of control, eventually hitting the S25m mark. Producer Elmo Williams and co-directors Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda give a ground-level view of the troubled production that was split between both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Their recollections, and contributions by historians of making the film are almost as dramatic as the events portrayed in it. Chaos ensued on numerous occasions but it began with legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa who was originally hired to direct the Japanese segments. Zanuck received reports of his “very bizarre behaviour” and was mortified to discover that after three weeks of shooting, he had just six minutes of footage in the can. He describes firing him as “the darkest moment” of his career although the diminutive director merely responded with, “I am Kurosawa…” Other dark moments include the tragic deaths of two stunt pilots and the real story of Pearl Harbor told in relation to scenes from the film. Documentary traces the production history of the film and compares the finished product to the real-life events it depicts.

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