Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker and film producer noted for his sprawling war films. He has been described as a "throwback to an earlier era, an extremely cerebral director whose movies consistently feature fully rounded characters, difficult moral issues, and plots that thrive on the ambiguity of authority." Description above from the Wikipedia article Edward Zwick, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
We certainly looked at Kurosawa. 'Seven Samurai' was a major touchstone, not just for the battles, but for the depth of character, and 'Ran' for its visual majesty and the way it deals with the end of an era.