MOVIE NEWS – Steven Seagal believes few actors could have been better suited than him to lead The Last Samurai, released 23 years ago. The controversial star claims that hundreds of thousands of people around the world thought he should have played Nathan Algren instead of Tom Cruise.
When Supergirl arrived in cinemas a few weeks ago, many viewers celebrated Jason Momoa’s appearance as Lobo, one of those rare instances in which the actor widely imagined for a character actually secured the role. Things did not work out the same way for Steven Seagal when The Last Samurai was cast ahead of its 2003 release. The actor recently claimed that, as an aikido master and self-proclaimed authority on Japanese culture, he had enormous public support for the part, yet Hollywood ultimately chose “that short guy Tom Cruise” instead.
“I’m going to tell you something that might be a little sensitive,” Seagal began in a recent interview with Far Out Magazine. “I grew up in Japan. I trained in martial arts there and was awarded the title of master. And then they go and make a movie, The Last Samurai. They cast a short guy, barely five feet tall—whether he was straight or gay, I neither know nor care. He’d never been to Japan. He doesn’t speak Japanese. He’d never even held a sword. And they cast him as the last samurai,” he complained. Seagal went on to claim that they received 450,000 calls from around the world, with people saying, “That role was perfect for you. How could this have happened?” He also insisted that most people he knew disliked the film and did not even go to see it. “It’s a typical example of Hollywood and its politics,” he concluded.
The Film Was a Critical and Commercial Success
Does Seagal have a point? For a start, Tom Cruise is not quite as short as his fellow actor suggested, as he stands at approximately five feet seven inches. It is also far from the first time Seagal has claimed achievements or connections that are difficult to verify: over the years, he has described himself as an expert in numerous fields and repeatedly attracted controversy over the way he recounts his own career. The Last Samurai, meanwhile, received a positive response, holds a 7.8 rating on IMDb, and earned $457 million against a budget of $140 million, while Cruise received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Claims of widespread public rejection are therefore difficult to reconcile with the film’s actual results.
Perhaps another timeline contains a version of The Last Samurai starring Steven Seagal, and some viewers might genuinely have enjoyed seeing it. Others may prefer to imagine what would have happened if the producers of Pitch Black had succeeded in casting him as Riddick instead of Vin Diesel. The version of The Last Samurai that was actually made remains a notable film, however, and Tom Cruise literally risked his life during one sequence in Edward Zwick’s production. The film is currently available through Netflix and Movistar Plus.
Source: 3DJuegos
