Akira Kurosawa’s essential advice to young filmmakers
Across all parts of the globe, Akira Kurosawa is undoubtedly considered one of the most well-respected filmmakers of all time. Known for his tenderness in the likes of Ikiru and his excellent action sequences in Seven Samurai, Kurosawa is simply one of a kind. The cinema icon once noted some essential advice to those wishing to make it as a film director.
Arguably the most simple yet practical advice that Kurosawa provides is merely to write. “If you genuinely want to make films, then write screenplays,” he says. “All you need to write a script is paper and pencil. It’s only through writing scripts that you learn specifics about the structure of film and what cinema is.”
After all, what better way is there to understand the nuances and challenges of writing a film than actually writing it? Several young aspiring artists dream of finding success in their chosen field but who allow that dream to interrupt the actual vital process of creating.
Elsewhere, Kurosawa suggests the imperative of reading. “Young people today don’t read books,” he says. “It’s important that they at least do a certain amount of reading. Unless you have a rich reserve within, you can’t create anything. Memory is the source of your creation. Whether it’s from reading or from your own real-life experience, you can’t create unless you have something inside yourself.”
In many ways, this echoes the advice of Stephen King in his book On Writing. King is adamant that the best way for a fiction writer to get better at writing fiction is to read the works of successful writers. In this light, Kurosawa is implying that it is through understanding other artists’ inner workings that we better understand ourselves.
Kurosawa is also keen to stress the importance of diligence and quotes another famous writer, Balzac, who once said, “The most essential and necessary thing is the forbearance to face the dull task of writing one word at a time.” Indeed, writing is a rather laborious and often seemingly insurmountable task. However, facing up to the task is a vital part of the process.
“I think young people today don’t know the trick of it,” Kurosawa says. “They start and want to get to the end right away. When you go mountain climbing, the first thing you’re told is not to look at the peak but to keep your eyes on the ground as you climb. You just keep climbing patiently, one step at a time. If you keep looking at the top, you’ll get frustrated. I think writing is similar.”
The iconic direction suggests merely “getting used” to the “task of writing” without getting irritated by a lack of progress. “You must make an effort to learn to regard it not as something painful but as routine,” he says. “But most people tend to give up halfway. I tell my Assistant Directors that if they give up once, then that’ll be it because that becomes a habit, and they’ll give up as soon as it gets hard. I tell them to write all the way to the end no matter what until they get to some sort of end.”
