Ran earned Akira Kurosawa his only Oscar nomination for Best Director.
Released in 1985, Ran was Kurosawa’s vast, late-career reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, relocated to Japan’s Sengoku period. Its story follows the aging warlord Hidetora Ichimonji as power struggles among his sons turn his kingdom into a battlefield. The film’s scale, color design, and controlled battle choreography made it one of Kurosawa’s most internationally celebrated works.
Kurosawa’s nomination came at the 58th Academy Awards, where he competed against Sydney Pollack, Steven Spielberg, John Huston, and Peter Weir. Pollack won for Out of Africa. Ran also received nominations for cinematography, art direction, costume design, and screenplay, winning the Oscar for costume design.
A common mix-up is Kagemusha, another late samurai epic that won the 1980 Palme d’Or and received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Kurosawa was also associated with Oscar recognition for Rashomon, Dersu Uzala, and an Honorary Award, but Ran remains his sole Best Director nomination.