Akira Kurosawa, born on March 23, 1910, in Tokyo, Japan, became one of the most influential film directors in history. He made movies about samurai, warriors who served Japanese lords hundreds of years ago. His 1954 film Seven Samurai tells the story of villagers who hire seven warriors to protect them from bandits. The movie was so popular that it was remade in America as The Magnificent Seven. Kurosawa's films are known for their visual beauty. He used weather as a storytelling tool. Rain, fog, and wind appear in his battle scenes to create dramatic effects. He carefully planned every shot, sometimes waiting hours for the perfect cloud formation in the sky. His influence on Hollywood is enormous. George Lucas has said that Star Wars was directly inspired by Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress. Two of the main characters in Star Wars, R2-D2 and C-3PO, are based on two bumbling peasants from that film. Steven Spielberg called Kurosawa the greatest living filmmaker. Kurosawa made over 30 films during his career and won an honorary Academy Award in 1990.