U.S. film directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese have agreed to chip in on a project to build a museum in Imari, Saga Prefecture, for the legendary moviemaker Akira Kurosawa.
Kurosawa's son, head of the Akira Kurosawa Foundation, told the foreign media Wednesday that the three Americans have agreed to serve as honorary directors of the foundation to help complete and open the 1.5 billion yen Akira Kurosawa Memorial Museum in 2003.
During the shooting of the 1985 movie "Ran," Kurosawa said he was impressed by the sunset over Imari Bay, according to Imari city officials.
His son said he is pushing for the project not because Kurosawa was his father but because he himself "is a great fan of director Akira Kurosawa."
Construction of the museum is to begin in summer 2002.
Imari Mayor Akira Kawamoto said he expects the museum to attract about 150,000 people a year.
Kurosawa's 30 films include "Rashomon" (1950), the first Japanese movie to win an international award, "Ikiru" (1952), "The Seven Samurai" (1954), one of the best-known Japanese movies ever made, "Sanjuro" (1954), and the epic medieval war dramas "Kagemusha" (1980) and "Ran."
He died in 1998 at age 88.