Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom
Mujun: The Ghost Kingdom was a film produced by Michael Brookhaven. The entire movie was filmed on 3 September 1999 in the Hollywood Bowl using a GCI processor.
The film shared focus equally between six central characters: Baron Amatsumara, Awaremi, Lady Wakai, Kodomo Kami, Baron Nichiyobi, and Kishijoten. Despite being set during the era of the Japanese Shogunate, it ignored genuine Samurai history and custom, in the style of many Brookhaven productions.
In the story, Baron Amatsumara worked together to save the small, peaceful village of Chikyu from a horde of "witches" alongside the warrior Awaremi, who stayed to protect the village. Then, Amatsumara took the villagegirl Kodomo Kami to see the Mujun Kingdom, the seat of his Samurai clan, and the council of Mujun elders gave her the katana of their founder. However, the villainous and aristocratic Lady Wakai sends her goblins to invade the Kingdom and, at the film's end, she comes from King Senso's court to consume the Kingdom and destroy the Mujun clan. Only Kodomo Kami, her hapless comedic sidekick Kishijoten, and the Baron Nichiyobi survive.
However, when the original Chris Cwej began to interfere with the filming as part of his investigation into Michael Brookhaven, he introduced the character of the "Seventh Samurai", upsetting the balance between the six main characters. This caused unscripted, out-of-place lines and scenes to begin appearing in the filming.
Brookhaven realised what was happening and became personally involved as a new character twenty-five minutes into the film. This culminated in the duel between Cwej and Brookhaven on Mount Usu during the film's climax, which notably ended in the appearance of the Voice and Brookhaven's disappearance. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
One deleted scene showed Baron Amatsumara saying, "When the Seventh Head speaks, the War will end, and the true War will begin." (PROSE: Head of State)
The shooting script was printed in paperback by Cornell & Schulman in 1999, but due to Cwej's interference in the filming, this script didn't match the lines in the finished product. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
Behind the scenes
- The story of the film closely parallels the fall of the Eleven-Day Empire recounted in AUDIO: The Eleven Day Empire / The Shadow Play.
- Different elements from the film parody the movies Mulan and The Phantom Menace.
