Hayao Miyazaki's last Ghibli film

The man never gets tired.

Hayao Miyazaki sat before a cast-iron fireplace, flanked by slightly ajar windows. Sunlight streamed through the branches of the trees outside, illuminating three red apples on the hearth. He wore a white apron with a string around his neck, a single button fastened to his left breast—the same type of apron he had worn for years, while composing, painting, and going out.

That's what Ligaya Mishan, a reporter for the New York Times, saw in the frame when she met and spoke with Hayao Miyazaki. Ironically, this rare interview took place via computer screen (due to Covid-19 restrictions) – a device the artist himself has chosen to avoid, and almost all of his works are devoid of any high-tech gadgets.

Miyazaki lives with his wife, Akemi, a former animator. They first met at Toei Animation nearly 60 years ago while working on a film.Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon(Gulliver's moon landing), and they married in 1965.

In 1998, Miyazaki built a small house in Koganei, a suburb of Tokyo, just a short walk from Studio Ghibli headquarters. The house served as Miyazaki's "retirement office," a workspace where he pursued personal projects. He sometimes affectionately called it his "pigsty" (he loved pigs and often sketched himself in pig form). Also in 1998, he announced he would no longer make films, andPrincess Mononoke(Princess Mononoke) was his last film. But then a year later, he returned to Studio Ghibli with the idea for the story ofSpirited Away(Spirited Away).Spirited AwayIt became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history at the time, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002.

In 2013, Hayao Miyazaki decided to retire once again after completing his film.The Wind Rises(The Wind Rises). But three years later, in 2016, he returned to Ghibli to "work on his final project," a film that had been in development for 20 long years, about "a tiny caterpillar so small you could hold it between your two fingers."Boro the Caterpillar(Boro the caterpillar).

The Japanese media calls Hayao Miyazaki "the tireless man." And, surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, Hayao Miyazaki is still here, working on a new film.

"Because I wanted to," he smiled. Once again, everyone said this was his last animation project.

Only one minute of film is completed each month.

Miyazaki dislikes framing his works within rigid ideological or moral frameworks. The mission of his films, as Miyazaki puts it, is "to comfort you, to fill the void in your heart, or in your everyday life." Neither Miyazaki nor producer Suzuki have shared much about the upcoming film, other than that it is based on the novel.How do you live?1937 by writer Genzaburo Yoshino.

The story follows 15-year-old Junichi Honda, who lives in Tokyo with his uncle, and how they face the challenges of everyday life together. Throughout the novel, humanistic values ​​and life lessons are conveyed through the notes his uncle writes for Junichi. However, Hayao Miyazaki stated that the film will not be a direct adaptation of the novel, but rather a version brimming with imagination, "a vast, fantastical world."

Toshio Suzuki stated that the project has no deadline. Although the Covid-19 pandemic did not affect the production process, there is still a very long time before the film is actually completed.

“The Studio Ghibli team still uses the hand-drawn method, and it takes us longer because we have to draw more frames. When producing the film.”My neighbor Totoro"(My neighbor Totoro) in 1988, we only had 8 animators, and it took us 8 months to complete. For the current film, we have 60 animators, but we can only produce 1 minute per month. That means after 12 months, we've drawn 12 minutes of film," Suzuki shared. He hopes to finish the film by 2024.

Hand-drawn frames – this is Hayao Miyazaki's ingrained filmmaking style. Unlike Walt Disney, the only figure of comparable stature in the animation industry, Miyazaki, now 80 years old, has never stepped back from his role as CEO. From 1985, when he founded Studio Ghibli with filmmakers Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, to the present day, Hayao Miyazaki has always worked alongside everyone. He is part of a team of only about 100 dedicated employees. To be fair, his desk isn't much bigger than others. He still hand-draws most of the frames in each film, sometimes tens of thousands. He only occasionally uses computer-generated imagery, and for the most part, he relies entirely on technology.

"I believe that an animator's tool is the pencil," he said.

Perhaps that's also why Hayao Miyazaki has never made a bad film. He meticulously crafts each scene and doesn't intentionally simplify his works to appeal to children. In fact, his films are often stories full of... intrigue, complexity, and mystery. Instead of writing the script first and then adding animation, Hayao Miyazaki usually focuses on each storyboard, then builds the story around the images he creates.

“A film will reflect its director. There’s no way to avoid that. I would regret it if I didn’t make a film that was true to myself,” he said. “You have to accept that your film has the potential to change the world, even if nothing changes.”

Therefore, the progress is to complete one minute of the film each month.FinalThis is really nothing strange. It just takes time.

Reporter Ligaya Mishan watched Miyazaki light a Seven Stars cigarette and asked one last question, "What is the title of this work?"How do you live?(How to survive?). The answer will be in the movie, right?

Miyazaki smiled and said, "I made this film because I didn't have the answer."

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