Editing Branded to Kill (section)

==Production==
[[Nikkatsu]] conceived ''Branded to Kill'' as a low-budget hitman film, a subgenre of the studio's yakuza-oriented movies.<ref name="Chris D">{{cite book|last=D. |first=Chris |author-link=Chris D. |title=Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2005 |isbn=1-84511-086-2 |chapter-url=http://www.ibtauris.com/display.asp?K=9781845110864&sf_01=CAUTHOR&sf_02=CTITLE&st_04=+9781845110864&sf_03=KEYWORD&sf_04=identifier&m=1&dc=1 |page=142 |chapter=Seijun Suzuki }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Their standard [[B movie]] [[shooting schedule]] was applied, one week for [[pre-production]], 25 days to [[Filmmaking|shoot]] and three days for [[post-production]]. The budget was set at approximately {{nowrap|20 million}} [[Japanese yen|yen]].<ref name="Tokyo Drifter DVD">{{cite video
| people = Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee)
| year = 1999
| title = Tokyo Drifter interview
| url = http://www.criterion.com/films/577
| medium = DVD
| publisher = The Criterion Collection
| access-date = 2009-06-14
| archive-date = 2009-06-11
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090611001744/http://www.criterion.com/films/577
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Shortly before filming began, with the release date already set, the script was deemed "inappropriate" by the head office and contract [[Film director|director]] [[Seijun Suzuki]] was brought in to do a rewrite. Studio head Kyūsaku Hori told Suzuki he had had to read it twice before he understood it. Suzuki suggested they drop the script but was ordered to proceed.<ref name="Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu">{{cite web
| last = Ueno
| first = Kohshi
| title = Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15717%3F15717%3F1
| page = 8
| work = The Films of Seijun Suzuki
| access-date = 2007-04-02
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161512/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The rewrite was done with his frequent collaborator [[Takeo Kimura]] and six [[assistant director]]s, including [[Atsushi Yamatoya]] (who also played Killer Number Four). The eight men had worked under the joint [[pen name]] Hachiro Guryu ("Group of Eight") since the mid-1960s.<ref name="Biografie">
{{cite book
| last = Hasumi
| first = Shigehiko
| title = De woestijn onder de kersenbloesem—The Desert under the Cherry Blossoms
| publisher = Uitgeverij Uniepers Abcoude
|date=January 1991
| isbn = 90-6825-090-6
| pages = 7–25
| chapter = Een wereld zonder seizoenen—A World Without Seasons
}}</ref> Nikkatsu was building [[leading man]] Joe Shishido into a star and assigned him to the film. They specified that the script was to be written with this aim. The film also marks Shishido's first nude scene. Suzuki originally wanted [[Kiwako Taichi]], a new talent from the famous theatre troupe [[Bungakuza]], for the [[Leading lady|female lead]] but she took a part in another film.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD">{{cite video
| people = Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee)
| year = 1999
| title = Branded to Kill interview
| url = http://www.criterion.com/films/576
| medium = DVD
| publisher = [[The Criterion Collection]]
| access-date = 2009-06-14
| archive-date = 2023-08-03
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230803230527/https://www.criterion.com/films/576
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Instead, Suzuki selected [[Annu Mari]], another new actress who had been working in Nikkatsu's music halls.<ref name="Ryuganji">{{cite web
| last = Brown
| first = Don
| title = Suzuki Seijun: Still Killing
| publisher = Ryuganji.net
| url = http://ryuganji.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/suzuki-seijun-still-killing.html
| date = October 23, 2006
| work = Japan Film News
| access-date = 2014-11-09
| archive-date = 2014-11-09
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141109144913/http://ryuganji.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/suzuki-seijun-still-killing.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> In casting the role of Hanada's wife, Suzuki selected Mariko Ogawa from outside of the studio as none of the contract actresses would do nude scenes.<ref name="Yakuza Book"/>

Suzuki did not use [[storyboard]]s and disliked pre-planning. He preferred to come up with ideas either the night before or on the set as he felt that the only person who should know what is going to happen is the director. He also felt that it was sudden inspiration that made the picture.<ref name="Tokyo Drifter DVD"/> An example is the addition of the Number Three Killer's rice-sniffing habit. Suzuki explained that he wanted to present a quintessentially "[[Japanese people|Japanese]]" killer, "If he were Italian, he'd get turned on by macaroni, right?"<ref name="Richie">{{cite book|last=Richie |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Richie |title=A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos |publisher=[[Kodansha|Kodansha International]] |year=2005 |isbn=4-7700-2995-0 |url=http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |pages=180–181 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121034830/http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |archive-date=November 21, 2008 }}</ref> Suzuki has commended Shishido on his similar drive to make the action scenes as physical and interesting as possible.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> In directing his actors, Suzuki let them play their roles as they saw fit and only intervened when they went "off track".<ref name="Yakuza Book"/> For nude scenes the actors wore ''[[maebari]]'', or adhesive strips, over their genitals in accordance with [[censorship]] practices.<ref name="Ryuganji"/> The film was edited in one day, a task made easy by Suzuki's method of shooting only the necessary footage. He had picked up the habit during his years working as an assistant director for [[Shochiku]] when [[film stock]] remained sparse after [[World War II|the war]].<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> [[Post-production]] was completed on June 14, 1967, the day before the film was released.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=ja:殺しの烙印 (ころしのらくいん |publisher=[[Nikkatsu]] |url=http://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/detail.html?mid=20996 |language=ja |access-date=2007-07-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927074910/http://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/detail.html?mid=20996 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref>