Star Wars: The Force Awakens has indeed awakened the force from the audiences which witnessed its Los Angeles premiere last Monday. According to some reports, the initial screening of the latest master piece of Director JJ Abrams was a great success. Some twitter post of Hollywood reporters detailed that, "1st Star Wars review: it was epic, awesome & perfect. The cast was stellar. JJ killed it!," while others shared that, "Star Wars premiere just letting out now. A LOT of smiling faces. #StarWarsForceAwakens"
The movie which expanded beyond five installments indeed conquered the imagination everybody regardless of the generation. Every character is unique in itself and the main characters truly made a mark to their audiences' consciousness. Perhaps one of the most popular and most quoted characters in the series is Darth Vader. However, the way we see the Vader today would somehow be different if a famous Japanese actor had accepted such role.
According to kotaku, the Darth Vader role was first offered by George Lucas to Toshiro Mifune, a Japanese actor. Such things is not a surprise for an in depth star wars fanatic, for traces of Japanese influence can be found in the phenomenal movie. According to kotaku, "the Japanese influence in Star Wars is no accident. George Lucas' hero is acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and he was inspired by the Japanese director's films, such as The Hidden Fortress."
This influence had reached the consciousness of Lucas. Even when trying to write or create the character of Darth Vader, the Japanese actor was put into consideration. Mika Mifune, Toshiro's daughter recounted that her "father was first asked to play Obi-Wan Kenobi-an offer he turned down." The daughter continued saying that, "Mifune [Toshiro] was offered the role of Darth Vader. The villain's helmet was apparently designed with Mifune in mind, and if Mifune had taken the role, his face supposedly would have been visible."
The idea of seeing a see through Darth Vader mask would be unique from what is being portrayed right now. However, the Japanese actor thought that the movie would be like of a kid's movie, which is why it was turned down by him. However, there is a disclaimer to the said trivia, for according to kotaku;
"Mifune daughter wasn't born until 1982, so her account isn't exactly first person-and it's something I don't ever recall hearing. If this bit of trivia is true and if Mifune had played Darth Vader, the character could have certainly developed differently during Lucas' writing process."
Nevertheless, thanks to the latest Star Wars installment for the idea of Japanese Darth Vader was once again revisited by most enthusiasts.