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COLLIDER: Congratulations on the Emmy nominations.
I was so excited to see that.
Image via Netflix
Probably not as excited as you were.
Since we last talked, the show has been released, and it has beensucha huge hit.
I’m like, Yeah, I talked to the creators.
Driven by a dream of revenge against those who made her an outcast in Edo-period Japan, a young warrior cuts a bloody path toward her destiny.
[Laughs] What was your initial reaction to the response?
Were you expecting it?
Was it kind of a shock?
AMBER NOIZUMI: I did not know what to expect.
I thought people were going to love it or hate it.
We’re moving locations now.
I think we’re going to England, as well.
Are you changing up some of the animation style?
Jane is leading the team in finding a way to make certain things happen.
Image via Netflix
We’re just not there yet.
NOIZUMI: No, we never talked about it being live-action.
GREEN: It didn’t exist until we thought about it in animation.
Image via Netflix
NOIZUMI: And obviously,we’re very tonally different fromShogun.
GREEN: But we watched it and loved it and are very excited for them, too.
How did you three meet?
Image via 2K Games
Did you guys know each other previously?
I don’t do animation anymore.
And I said, Well, why me?
And he goes, Just read the script.
So I met Michael and Amber that following week, and we were finishing each other’s sentences.
And we said, Look, we know live-action people.
We don’t know people who know live-action and animation.
And he said, I’m gonna introduce you to someone.
We said, Great.
Who else do you want us to meet?
He said, Start with this one person.
Her name is Jane Wu.
And we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to them.
Now, I think your show has really led the way.
We’ve seenInvincible,X-Men, andScavengers Reign.
GREEN: It’s great that all those things are happening.
Or other showrunners at Netflix.
But we watch all those shows and love them.
Similarly, with the half hours.
Adult animation was synonymous with half-hour comedies.
Hopefully, there’ll be more and more of those, too.
Collaborating with Netflix, do you guys get a lot of freedom?
NOIZUMI: They give us a lot of freedom.
Really, very few notes.
GREEN: Either on cuts or scripts, we can count on one hand the times.
How long was this project developing?
I’m guessing pre-COVID?
March of 2020 was the green light.
GREEN: Then we started production as the world shut down, and never stopped.
I’m wondering if there are ways you’ve ever thought of expanding it.
Everybody is all into their spin-offs.
Have you ever had ideas?
That cast is just so vast and I want to know more about almost every single character.
NOIZUMI:It may not be four seasons.I was kind of speaking freely off the cuff.
[Laughs] But I think you could take any one storyline and spin it out into its own.
GREEN: We definitely talk about it, but never with contracts in hand.
But we love this jot down of storytelling.
We love our partnership with Netflix, so we would love to keep going.
We’ve definitely talked about how to tell thisBlue Eye Samuraistory that started in Season 1.
I wish it was.
Last time, we also talked a lot about the martial arts of the show.
I brought in my friend, Sunny Sun, who was a stunt director.
Also, he’s incredibly funny.
He brought so much wit to it.
You just brought up the humor, and I think that’s something that also really stuck out.
How do you find that balance, like finding the right moment to have that kind of joke?
GREEN: Its sort of a gut thing.
NOIZUMI: You just know when you better break the tension a bit.
GREEN: The grumpy, reluctant, occasional hero is just always endlessly funny.
They don’t mean to; they’re not joke-funny.
But just allowing the show to surprise you that way.
It’s also just how people like us three handle our own lives.
Is that something that’s still happening?
GREEN:It is being reconsidered, the version I was working on.
Its not moving forward.
Sometimes things fall apart with hugs and kisses, and that was kind of it.
But it does seem like they’re looking at new ways of approaching it.
It’s all great people.
So, here’s hoping we get to see that one.
Season 1 ofBlue Eye Samuraiis now streaming on Netflix.
