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Ever since Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron debuted in Japan on July 14, the movie has captured the imagination of animation fans all around the world. Although the 12th film written and directed by the 82-year-old anime master debuted in a veil of secrecy, with only one cryptic poster image revealed prior to release date, the magical, semi-autobiographical movie smashed box-office records in Japan and in the U.S., debuting in the number-one position on the charts. The movie quickly became Studio Ghibli and GKIDS’ biggest blockbuster to date (U.S.: $30.9 million, worldwide: $122.6 million, as of 12/27/23), went on to land on most best-of-the-year critics’ lists and is now a prime contender for this year’s Best Animated Feature Academy Award. (We also think the movie deserves to be on the Best Picture list alongside live-action nominees, but that’s another story.)
Since the master himself rarely gives interviews, we were lucky to be able to interview the film’s producer, Studio Ghibli co-founder and president Toshio Suzuki, as well as longtime Studio Ghibli cinematographer Atsushi Okui and English-language dub director Michael Sinterniklaas to get their takes on working on Miyazaki’s latest masterpiece.
Toshio Suzuki
On the most powerful memory of working on the movie:
This isn’t a pleasant memory, but my most profound memory is the death of director Isao Takahata [April 5, 2018], who was Hayao Miyazaki’s mentor, friend and biggest rival. His death unmistakably had a great influence on this film.
Did Miyazaki reveal anything about the movie that will stay with you forever?
What will stay with me is the moment he handed me a project treatment and told me, “Here’s the next feature-length film I want to make,” even though he had announced his retirement at a press conference in 2013. I sensed everything go dark in front of my eyes.
How was working on this movie different from previous Studio Ghibli movies?
We began production without any group of investors, using only Studio Ghibli’s funds, without even setting a release date. As director Miyazaki is elderly, I wanted to allow him to take as much time as he wanted to make the film he envisioned, without deciding on a release date.
Why do you think this movie has struck such a chord worldwide?
Since we began streaming distribution of Studio Ghibli films abroad, so many more viewers have seen Ghibli films and become fans of them. Being able to see the latest film by director Miyazaki on a theater screen must have been a wonderful surprise for fans worldwide.
‘Miyazaki, in my estimation, is the greatest director of animation ever, and he has made his films as full of dialogs and questions as he is. These are not easy films, but these are films that portray him so intimately, that you feel you’re having a conversation with him. And they are paradoxical because he understands that beauty cannot exist without horror, and delicacy cannot exist without brutality.’
— Guillermo del Toro, introducing the movie at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere
Atsushi Okui
What did you love best about working on The Boy and the Heron?
I loved everything about the project. The best part was being able to share working on the production period of five years with a limited number of staff persons.
What was the most challenging scene for you?
The most challenging scene may have been the fire at the start of the film. It was difficult to take the animation drawings from the animators and complete them as digital images. Even so, I felt like I was enjoying the process.
What were your biggest sources of inspiration on this movie?
The image sketches drawn by director Miyazaki influenced me as sources of inspiration.
How closely did you work with the director on achieving the unforgettable images for the movie?
Having worked with director Miyazaki for 30 years, I can imagine pretty well what he requires. When my work was being checked by director Miyazaki, I would purposely prepare a curve-ball idea to show him in order to search for a better way of expressing the scene.
Have you talked to Miyazaki-san about the film’s unanimous acclaim?
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to talk directly with director Miyazaki about the response to the film. But I am sure he is happy that the film that he poured his heart and soul into has gained high praise, and I feel the same way.
‘I first saw The Boy and the Heron at Studio Ghibli earlier this year, and after five minutes I began to cry. There was another Miyazaki film in the world. What a gift. After Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s easy to take for granted how unique Miyazaki’s gifts are. The beauty, the lusciousness, the humor and playfulness, the nuance are all here … the movement of the heron in flight, of fish in the water, the tottering old aunties. Nothing can compare.”
— Eric Beckman, President & Founder of GKIDS
Michael Sinterniklaas
First impressions:
I felt that it was such an incredibly beautiful movie and that it was even more detailed and lovely than his last film. I love all of Miyazaki’s movies, but this one really struck me as being even more richly detailed and on a whole new level. I also felt that he might be saying goodbye, and I don’t want him to say goodbye. I think my first reaction was: This is clearly a masterpiece.
How long did it take to deliver the English-language dub?
Studio Ghibli was generous enough to let us work with the assets early on and trusted us with their most guarded treasure before it was released. So, we were able to work on the script and casting earlier in the year. But the entire production took about four months for us, and a lot of it was just waiting for the cast to be put together.
Can you tell us a bit about the specific challenge of working on such a high-profile title?
Well, the stakes were so high, and it’s so important to serve the original creator’s intent, because it’s such a personal film and it’s the most personal film of the most important anime director we’ve ever had. So you’re checking yourself every moment of every scene you’re directing to make sure that you’re conveying what his intention was rather than having your own interpretation.
Then, of course, we’re working with all these amazing actors that have worked on Miyazaki movies in the past, like Mark Hamill and Christian Bale, as well as people like Karen Fukuhara, Florence Pugh, Robert Pattinson and Dave Bautista. Luckily, because of the magnitude of this piece, we all have this thing in common.
One of the things I always am cognizant of is, I never feel like as the director I’m imposing my will on the piece or the actor. If anything, the way I describe it is finding the individual ‘love language’ of that performer and then speaking to inspire them to get what they can bring, as opposed to, “This is what I think it should be.” I think that’s a really important distinction to this kind of work. The other thing is that if I’m going to channel anything, it’s Hayao Miyazaki’s aesthetic style and intent — which we’ll never entirely know because, he’s not going to come back and give us a commentary track. He always says that he’s not looking back because he doesn’t want to see mistakes. And he’s moving on to the next thing.
‘The mission of my films is to comfort you — to fill in the gap that might be in your heart or your everyday life. How do you live? I am making this movie because I do not have the answer.’
— Hayao Miyazaki, in a 2021 New York Times interview
The Boy and the Heron is currently screening in theaters across the U.S. through GKIDS and internationally.
