B.L. You must get bazillions of scripts. What was it that touched you so much about The Last Samurai?
T.C. The code of Samurai, Bushido. When I read it, it aligned with what I believe and what I strive for in my life and that hit me. I have also had a fascination, and I think that Samurai are eternally cool and their culture is enigmatic to me and I wanted to get inside that. When I met with Ed Zwick (director), it was his enthusiasm and vision for this film. He’s a great director and you just look at someone like that and you go, "Man, I want to go on this ride with you and where are we going to go with this?" You think, "this is very ambitious and you don’t know if it’s going to work but this is what we are going to go for" and there was always that sense of play in making the movie. It was very demanding for all of us but it worked out.

B.L. From beginning to end, how much of a personal journey was this for you?
T.C. Big, it was big. Any time you start looking at life from another culture’s point of view or even another person’s point of view it’s very exciting and it’s enlightening. Also the physical journey and the character development happened at the same time. We’re talking about a year developing this character and working with Ed and Marshall (Herskovitz) and Paula (Wagner) and then the cast and working with the Japanese actors — that was very fulfilling, seeing those performances come to life. Especially Katsumoto and seeing what Ken Watanabe did with that character was very powerful.

B.L. Speaking of Ken, the bond between the two of you was unbelievably moving. Can you tell me a little about that?
T.C. We just had that friendship and that support. When I make a movie it’s not about me, it’s about the movie. I work well in environments with generosity. It’s about working together. That kind of communication and generosity is something that I want and they were like that also. Very generous, very giving and supportive and validating as to the history and the work that we’d done, and helpful to me with the swordplay and giving me confidence at times. I’m telling you, I didn’t think about when I was reading the script but when I put on the Hakaman all I could think of was "Hey man, is this going to work? Does this work, how does it cut?", and it was fun, it was really fun.

B.L. It was fun to watch you in this film but it was scary too. I want to ask you about your preparation for this role because were you not shitting in your pants with those swords?
T.C. (heartily laughing) At first I was thinking, "how am I going to do this. What’s going to happen?" because I trained by myself. First I had to develop my arm strength and flexibility and then we started introducing other guys coming in who were swinging at me and I thought, "OK, we’re going hard," because you’ve got to go full speed. The Ronan fight I shot from beginning to end. There are cuts in the scene but there weren’t cuts for me as an actor. It was a sprint and I thought, "Wow." When you first start doing it and Nick Powell (trainer) built me up to where I had total special awareness of the guys behind me. So even at that speed it felt slow to me when we were going through it and if someone made a mistake or a misstep I had good awareness of where they were and that’s what martial arts gives you. That kind of awareness where things to other people seem to be happening fast, but to you it’s slow motion.

B.L. There’s no doubt in my mind that making this movie has changed and enriched your life. In what way has it changed you?
T.C. I think to have been able to travel to those places. (Japan, New Zealand). It’s given me an opportunity to really show the things that for me spiritually are important, and to explore and express the kind of humanity that I feel is important today. It was right there, it just came right in my lap and I said, "Man, this is happening to me now, this is perfect."

B.L. What scene moved you the most?
T.C. When I first read it, or when I saw it?

B.L. When you saw it.
T.C. Always what gets me is that scene near the end where they bow. I don’t want to give it away but that just moves me so much. It got me in the script and it’s rare and quite an achievement on Ed Zwick’s part to have that move me that much. I was surprised that it just hit me. I also found the scene with Taka (the love interest) quite moving beforehand. There was a lot of discussion about that love scene as to how we were going to do it. There are seven relationships that are developed in the village and it’s both mathematical the structure and the screenplay and character development and emotional and story. When I’m working on a film I always put it up on a huge board and I break down the scenes and we look at it to evaluate it from a producer’s standpoint for structure and plot, and as an actor I’m looking at the characters and the relationships and the dynamics and the history of the characters and my character. So when it came to that scene and Ed said, "Here’s what I want to do, and I was thinking about this," and I thought, "Man that’s good. That’s really good."