Michaela Clavell: 'Shogun' themes of honor, sacrifice resonate in 2024

NEW YORK, April 23 (UPI) -- Shogun executive producer Michaela Clavell says she thinks the themes of honor and purpose in FX's adaptation of her late father James' historical novel is resonating with audiences in 2024.

"It's really a story of how you choose to live and die at its very basic essence," Clavell told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"It's a story of choices, and one thing my father was known for in his writing is his way of presenting many different points of view within the one book," she said. "Each character has a different point of view. I think when you are presented with choices, it's never a bad thing."

Clavell added: "Do you live with honor or do you live without honor? Do you die with honor? Do you die without honor? These topics are brought up, and it's thought provoking, and that's always timely for a culture to examine."

Wrapping up Tuesday on FX and Hulu, the 10-episode miniseries is set in Japan in 1600 at the start of a civil war.

Husband-wife team Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo were the showrunners, while producer Hiroyuki Sanada starred as feudal lord Yoshii Toranaga, who enlists the help of marooned English ship pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and translator Mariko (Anna Sawai) as he battles for power against the local council of regents.

Clavell described seeing the latest screen translation of her father's 1975 book as "mind-blowing." The novel had been turned into a beloved 1980 miniseries.

"You always hope that things will turn out spectacularly. But it's still breath-taking when it does," she said.

"As a personal journey, as a representative of his estate, we wanted so much to do justice to his incredible and complicated and layered writing and book, which is one of several he wrote on the subject of Asia."

Marks and Kondo spent nearly a decade developing and writing the 2024 version.

The coronavirus pandemic gave the married collaborators even more time to polish it into "the incredible jewel and shining star that it is right now," according to Clavell, who praised the quality of the production, acting and writing as "extraordinary."

"It's very gratifying to see something come to life when you haven't even dreamt it that well," she said.

"It was a real work of passion and a great deal of thought and energy went into it -- to get this right, to get this authentic, to get the Japanese point of view told authentically and well."

Clavell said the biggest challenge regarding casting was coordinating people's schedules and abiding by COVID-19 protocols.

"It's a juggling of people's timetables. Who can make it? Who can't? From the beginning, Hiro was committed and he was Toranaga from the start. That was a wonderful beginning," Clavell said.

"Cosmo Jarvis is so perfect for this Blackthorne," she added. "He brought humor to the part, which was in the book and was nice to be able to bring to the screen.

"Mariko is a very modern portrayal of a woman while still keeping the traditional values of the time period. Anna is a fierce Mariko and that comes through very strongly."

Clavell said she thinks these characters will appeal to the younger generation of viewers.

"My daughter, who is 30, is very impressed by Mariko and her unapologetic fierceness," Clavell added. "It's a modern tale, as well as an ancient tale."

Also because of the pandemic, the show had to be filmed in British Columbia instead of Japan.

Clavell said she doesn't believe the production suffered for the cinematic sorcery, however.

"The cinematography of British Columbia has never been done more beautifully filmed than it has in this show," she said. "Nature, which is a part of the Japanese culture, is a part of this Shogun . It's in every scene -- the mountains the ocean. I think it's a character in itself and that comes through so beautifully."

Mother Nature also worked against them at times with British Columbia experiencing one of its rainiest periods in history, Clavell noted.

"It wasn't an easy shoot at all -- weather-wise and COVID-wise -- but yet you don't know that. You don't see that [on-screen]," she said. "It was a triumph over adversity."