Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is reportedly coming out of retirement to bring the story of a tiny caterpillar to life.
The prolific director, who broke his legions of fans’ hearts when he announced his retirement back in 2013, confirmed his decision during a television special saying that he wants to make a full-length animated feature out of his 20-year pet project previously intended to be a short film.
As a co-founder of Japan’s beloved animation production outfit Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki has a long list of memorable creations including “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “Princess Mononoke”, and “Spirited Away”.
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After his announced retirement three years ago, Miyazaki has been working on a CG short for the Ghibli Museum called “Kemushi no Boro”, or “Boro the Caterpillar”, reported Anime News Network. The story, which revolves around a caterpillar that’s so small “it may be easily squished between your fingers,” is reportedly based on a narrative that Miyazaki has been developing for about two decades now.
According to the NHK television special titled “The Man Who is not Done: Hayao Miyazaki,” the 75-year-old animator was unhappy with how the short film version turned out and suggested instead to make it into a full-length feature film.
Coming out of retirement is nothing new for Miyazaki who has done so a couple of times already. Back in 1998, he declared that he will retire after filming “Princess Mononoke”, but then he would later make six films after that.
Miyazaki said that he may need up to five years for “Boro the Caterpillar” to be completed, which means that by that time he’d be around 80 years old.
While the project is not officially green lit yet, Miyazaki said he is already planning the storyboards for “Boro the Caterpillar”. Should Studio Ghibli pursue the feature-length project, then look forward to another masterpiece to come out in a few years time.
