Hayao Miyazaki is unretiring (again) to make one last Studio Ghibli film just because ‘he wants to’

December 1, 2021

Studio Ghibli co-founder, director and animator Hayao Miyazaki is reportedly coming out of retirement again to create one last feature-length film.

What it’s about: Miyazaki, who announced his retirement in 2018 — the latest of several cycles of retiring and returning — talked about the movie in a recent interview with The New York Times. He said it is based on “How Do You Live?”, a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino.

The popular 1937 novel written by Yoshino Genzaburō is reportedly a Miyazaki favorite. The coming-of-age story revolves around a 15-year-old Tokyo boy who moves in with his uncle after his father dies. .
The film, whose animation was half-way finished in December of 2020, is slated to be around two hours long and will be directed by Toshio Suzuki, a veteran producer and colleague of Miyazaki’s. Suzuki said of the forthcoming project that he “recognizes himself in one of the characters, who is not human.”

Why he’s doing it: Miyazaki, now 80, has retired several times in his career. When asked why he was returning to direct his new film, he simply answered, “Because I want to.”

Miyazaki first retired in the late 1990s. He returned in 2002 to direct “Spirited Away,” which won the Academy Award for “Best Animated Feature.”
In 2013, he retired once again but returned to create “Earwig and the Witch” with his son, Goro, for the Ghibli Museum. Released in 2020, it was the studio’s first CGI film.
Miyazaki also announced his retirement in 2018. Despite his back-and-forth, he has directed 11 features over 34 years.

Featured Images via NHK WORLD-JAPAN

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