Ken Watanabe To Direct WWII 442nd Film Ken Watanabe to make his directorial debut soon, Watanabe was introduced to most Western audiences with the 2003 film The Last Samurai for which his performance as Katsumoto earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Watanabe is mostly known in Japan for playing samurai, as in the 1987 Dokuganryu Masamune (One eyed dragon, Masamune) the 50-episode NHK drama for which he is now best known. He played the lead character, Matsudaira Kurō, in the television jidaigeki Gokenin Zankurō, which ran for several seasons. He has gone on to earn acclaim in such historical dramas as Oda Nobunaga, Chushingura, and the movie Bakumatsu Junjo Den. It is said that Oscar nominee Watanabe is in early talks to direct a WWII drama titled 442nd. This independent would be his directorial debut and it’s based on the true story of “an American-Japanese military unit assembled during World War II and sent on virtual suicide missions in the Eur