Star of Shōgun on Disney+ Cosmo Jarvis talks James Clavell’s novel, studying feudal Japan and working with Hiroyuki Sanada
- English actor Cosmo Jarvis describes his lack of knowledge about Japan before he starred in a new Disney+ adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shōgun
- He recalls 11 gruelling months of filming in Canada and speaks of his admiration for his Japanese co-star Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Toranaga
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A bestseller in its day, James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shōgun explored 16th century feudal Japan through the eyes of John Blackthorne, an English sailor who ends up shipwrecked there.
Clavell’s book was adapted into a beloved 1980 miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain as Blackthorne and the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune as the powerful feudal lord he encounters, Yoshi Toranaga.
“I wasn’t aware of anything to do with Shōgun until the audition process began,” Jarvis says, when we speak over Zoom. Likewise, his knowledge of this era of Japanese history was minimal.
I don’t think fans of the book will be disappointed
“I only knew the very rudimentary surface-level aesthetic tropes that some people in the West are familiar with. Samurais and bonsai trees.”
Jarvis, as intense on screen as he is dedicated, immediately took a deep dive into Clavell’s doorstop of a book to prepare to play Blackthorne.
“It was a very useful instruction manual,” says the actor, who also looked at letters and logs from mariners of the time, as he investigated “the historical and geopolitical situation of the 1600s”.
What was it, though, that drew him in? He draws breath, thinking carefully.
“It was the time period. And the environment and the circumstances. And all of those were things that seldom touched on in things that I’ve come across with potential projects.
“And also, [I was interested in] Blackthorne’s circumstances individually and the magnitude of his adventure … or misadventure,” says Jarvis.
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Given the size of the book – more than 1,200 pages – how faithful does he feel husband-and-wife showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks (who co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick) were?
“Well the novel is incredibly intricate. And it’s a hell of a challenge, I would imagine, to curate the intention of such a novel into something that doesn’t betray it. And that makes its presence as a current day adaptation urgent, necessary and justified. I don’t think fans of the book will be disappointed.”
“He’s incredibly professional,” says Jarvis. “He takes things very seriously. He was a good guide, and he brought all of his experience to the process.
“He was also an executive producer on it as well. So he was more than just a fellow actor. He was a very experienced guide in multiple facets of the filmmaking process.”
Although the show was shot in Vancouver, Jarvis was surrounded by Japanese folk, much like his character.
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“[Like] Blackthorne, I was the odd one out in some way. And there was, on multiple occasions, a language barrier, as there is in the series itself.
“It was really fun communicating with people who didn’t speak any English, without any English words.”
Did he pick up any Japanese? “I’ve forgotten it all now. At the time I picked up a few things. Mostly inappropriate words!”
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Born in the US state of New Jersey to an Armenian-American mother and English father, and raised in Devon, in the UK, Jarvis seems entirely at ease with the pressure of shouldering a massive-scale show like Shōgun.
“Although it’s completely different to any other job I’ve done, the remit is still the same. And, yeah, there was a lot of pressure, because when everybody else is doing such huge amounts of work to make the story come alive, it made me want to really do good work, to honour what they’ve done,” the actor says.
The 11 months of filming was easily the longest production Jarvis has ever been on.
I guess I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it! I try not to think about it.
“It was a huge period to keep up the consistency of Blackthorne. I don’t want to say it was relentless because that word has negative connotations. But it was relentless in the best sense of the word. It was just consistently challenging.
“And there was never a light at the end of the tunnel until you’d already emerged from the tunnel.”
So how did he discipline himself? Did he stop drinking? “I don’t drink. It just becomes about obsessing over the next part of the story.”
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Already Jarvis has his next project in the can, Alto Knights, a new gangster movie directed by Barry Levinson (Diner), scripted by Nicholas Pileggi (who co-wrote Goodfellas) and co-starring the mighty Robert De Niro. So is he ready for fame to hit him like a bullet train?
“I guess I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it! I try not to think about it. I am glad that people are going to see the work … I’ll just have to see how it pans out.”
At least it means he’ll get better seats in restaurants, I suggest. “I guess so. But the kind of restaurants I go to, there are always tables available.”
Shōgun streams on Disney+ from February 27
