For over a decade, Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto has been making films about the horrors of war.
Like Fires On The Plain (2014), Killing (2018) and Shadow Of Fire (2023), his latest war film, Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?, will receive its North American premiere at Toronto following its debut in Competition at Venice.
The English-language production — Tsukamoto’s second, following 2009’s Tetsuo: The Bullet Man — was inspired by an autobiography of the same name first published in Japan in 2003. It tells the story of former US Marine Allen Nelson, who served in the Vietnam War, returned with debilitating PTSD and eventually devoted his life to giving anti-war lectures around the world, including more than 1,200 in Japan.
“I first discovered Nelson’s book when I was doing research for Fires On The Plain and it left a huge impression me,” says Tsukamoto. “It spoke honestly and matter-of-factly about the truth of war in a way I’d never seen before, and it was told not from the victims’ perspective, but from that of the perpetrators.”
The Japan-US production was a massive undertaking for Tsukamoto, a fiercely independent filmmaker who usually takes multiple roles on his films, including actor. On Nelson, Tsukamoto served as director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor.
Cross-country challenges
Filmed across four countries over a period of six months, there were 24 shooting days in the US, 20 in Thailand (which doubled for Vietnam War scenes), four in Okinawa and two in Vietnam.
“Communication was the most difficult thing,” says the director on the challenges of shooting across multiple countries and cultures. “In filmmaking, you really have to pay attention to every little detail, and it was quite difficult to refine those details and reach a point where everyone was satisfied.”
The filmmaker is quick to point out that despite any difficulties, crew members “worked very hard on the film, and I’m grateful and satisfied with the result”.
Nelson died in 2009, but Tsukamoto spent time speaking with his former wife and children, who also appear as characters in the film, ahead of shooting. The title role is played by Rodney Hicks, previously known for his off-screen performances in the opening and closing Broadway runs of Rent.
“We auditioned Rodney via Zoom,” recalls Tsukamoto. “His acting was exceptionally precise and spot-on, and his enthusiasm for the role was extraordinary. That enthusiasm alone was enough to make me feel he was definitely the one.”
Nelson’s longtime psychotherapist, Dr Neal Daniels, is played by Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush.
“It was a difficult piece of casting because there wasn’t much information [about the real-life therapist],” says the director. “I wanted him to be enigmatic, but with a certain kind of charisma. Given those criteria, Geoffrey was the perfect fit.”
Tsukamoto has a near 30-year relationship with Venice, which has served as the launching pad for nearly all his films since Bullet Ballet in 1998. He has also served on the Competition jury twice, most recently in 2019.
“Italy is a place that shines a light on things that haven’t yet quite taken shape or gained recognition,” says Tsukamoto. “It has a warm, familiar atmosphere, and I’d even go so far as to call it my second home.
“Toronto, on the other hand, is a very cosmopolitan place, and it’s the kind of festival where you go to screen films with a sense of determination, as if it’s a launching pad into a whole new world.”
Tsukamoto describes Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? as the “definitive work” in his war series, which also includes samurai civil war film Killing and post-Second World War drama Shadow Of Fire.
“I hadn’t intended to continue making war films after Fires On The Plain, but my anxiety that Japan was edging closer to war grew stronger,” says Tsukamoto. “I made [Nelson] because I believed it was the strongest way to convey how terrifying war truly is.”
Producers are Christopher Frey and Philippa Frey at US outfit Cross Media International, Yumiko Takebe at Japan’s Kino Films and Ken Ochiai. Executive producer is Naoya Kinoshita at Japan’s Kinoshita Group. A theatrical release in Japan is set for September 11.
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