FX is offering a behind-the-scenes look at the Vancouver production of its critically-acclaimed Shōgun series.
Last week, the network published a five-and-a-half-minute video showing how the B.C. city was transformed into feudal-era Japan.
For instance, construction coordinator Johnny Dale shows how the crew found a location called Flavelle in Port Moody and built historical Japanese architecture on top of it. This setting ultimately became Osaka, one of the main places in the series. “The team did a phenomenal job getting everything done — carpenters, sculptors, metal fabricating, greens, and, of course, paint, which is the last layer, which makes everything look perfect,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Helen Jarvis, the production designer, explained how sets were designed so that the filming crew could get “as many different depths or avenues, angles that you could shoot.” That’s particularly impressive when you consider how big some of the sets ended up being. For instance, FX told Variety that the ceremonial hall, one of the series’ biggest sets, was 180 feet (about 55 metres) by 110 feet (about 34 metres) and three stories high.
But of course, the work speaks for itself — check out the full video below:
Over the past several weeks, the cast has also been praising Vancouver for being a beautiful location that can believably stand in for Japan. Legendary Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who stars as Toranaga as well as serving as a producer on the series, lauded Vancouver for being “a perfect place to make a samurai drama because they had a big, great, beautiful studio, and then 30 minutes drive from the studio they have everything, forest, river, beach, parks, mountains.”
In the video, Sanada’s castmates also marvelled at how convincingly Vancouver became Japan. “I often forget this is Vancouver,” said Shinnosuke Abe, who plays Buntaro. “I’ve been an actress for over 30 years, nearly 40 years now, but having such a beautiful set and location in which to work and film is the first time that’s happened in my life,” added Yoriko Doguchi, the actress behind Kiri No Kata.
All 10 episodes of Shōgun are now streaming on Disney+ Canada.
Image credit: Disney
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