to make up a shortfall in the film's budget when the original producers, Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film. In return, 20th Century Fox received the international distribution rights to the film. Coppola and Kurosawa appeared together in Suntory whisky commercials to raise money for the production. Kurosawa originally cast the actor Shintaro Katsu in the title role. Katsu left the production, however, before the first day of shooting was over; in an interview for the Criterion Collection DVD, executive producer Coppola states that Katsu angered Kurosawa by arriving with his own camera crew to record Kurosawa's filmmaking methods. It is unclear whether Katsu was fired or left of his own accord, but he was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, a well-known actor who had appeared in a number of Kurosawa's previous films. Nakadai played both the kagemusha and the lord whom he impersonated. Kurosawa wrote a part in Kagemusha for his longtime regular actor Takashi Shimura, and Kagemusha was the last Kurosawa film in which Shimura appeared. However, the scene in which he plays a servant who accompanies a western doctor to a meeting with Shingen was cut from the foreign release of the film. The Criterion Collection DVD release of the film restored this scene as well as approximately another eighteen minutes in the film. According to Lucas, Kurosawa used 5,000 extras for the final battle sequence, filming for a whole day, then he cut it down to 90 seconds in the final release. Many special effects, and a number of scenes that filled holes in the story, landed on the "cutting-room floor". Cast Tatsuya Nakadai as and the Tsutomu Yamazaki as , Shingen's younger brother. Kenichi Hagiwara as , Shingen's son and heir. Jinpachi Nezu as , chief bodyguard for Takeda Shingen and the Kagemusha. Hideji Ōtaki as , the Takeda's most experienced general. Daisuke Ryu as , one of Shingen's chief rival for control of Japan. Masayuki Yui as , Nobunaga's strongest ally. Kaori Momoi as , one of Shingen's concubines. Mitsuko Baisho as , another one of Shingen's concubines. Hideo Murota as , one of the chief generals in the Takeda Clan's army. Takayuki Shiho as , another important general in the Takeda Clan's army. Kōji Shimizu as Noburo Shimizu as Sen Yamamoto as Shuhei Sugimori as Takashi Shimura as Eiichi Kanakubo as , Shingen's other chief rival for control of Japan. Francis