Lone Samurai stars Japanese actor Shogen (2015’s Death Note, Gensan Punch) as the title character, a samurai shipwrecked on an island filled with cannibals set during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The Raid fans are in for a treat with actors including Yayan Ruhian (John Wick: Chapter 3, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Rama Ramadhan.

Waller is a fan of The Raid films and of Iko Uwais, the main character of the two films. The latter would later be cast in Western films such as Expend4bles, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Snake Eyes.

“Inspiration is all over the place, to be honest,” Waller tells Nerd Reactor. “I mean, The Raid elements are just obvious because it’s all of Uwais’ team. The entire cast outside of Shogen is basically Uwais’ stunt team. But yeah, my influences are anywhere from The Black Stallion, which was a shipwreck movie. First half of it, he’s by himself with just a horse. And the second half of it is a horse racing movie. So it’s two halves. I liked that dynamic.

“Then films like Sword of Doom and Harakiri. I know that there were people who have said references to like Apocalypto, but I think that’s really only because you have cannibals and vicious primitives running through the jungle type thing. My God, I can pull from so many inspirations. It would take up the whole interview.”

The difference in styles from the cannibals to Shogen’s samurai is apparent, and it was encouraged by the director to think outside the box.

“Josh encouraged me to move away from the traditional cliche image of samurai combat,” Shogen said. “While keeping with the spirit of sword action, I just embraced the distinctive choreography created by Uwais’ team. And when I first read the script, I thought it was simply about surviving against the enemies. But through rehearsals with Uwais’ team, I came to realize it was more than that. A way of communicating beyond words. And perhaps because we had gone through such intense training together. During the fight scene with them, I even felt a deep sense of respect and gratitude towards them.

Lone Samurai is now available digitally on Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and Google Play Movies & TV.