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Miyazaki's The Wind Rises Opens Wide in N. America

posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Miyazaki discusses motivation & film's creation in interviews

Hayao Miyazaki's final feature film, The Wind Rises, opens in wide release in North America on Friday. The film has already earned an estimated US$306,000 in 21 theaters during its one-week limited release.

The Wall Street Journal is streaming a new dub clip for the film.

Australian film distributor Madman Entertainment is also hosting interview clips with the film's English cast.

Miyazaki himself held interviews recently to discuss his retirement and thoughts on the film. During his interview with Animation World Network's Dan Sarto, he confirmed that he will not direct another movie even though those close to him think there is a possibility he might return.

The director also acknowledged that all of his movies are inspired by those close to him, including The Wind Rises.

"When I make a movie I usually think about one or two persons very close to me. For Wind Rises it was one boy. I can't tell you who, because he himself does not know that I made the film for him. But he said he really liked it after seeing it. He's fourteen years old," he said.

Miyazaki was initially resistant to creating the film despite the urging of his producer, Toshio Suzuki, because it would not appeal to a young audience like his previous works and that it would be "digging our own grave." He was also reluctant to focus a film on a historical topic.

"The staff that we hire at Studio Ghibli, they don't know that much about history. I thought it would be difficult to teach them history. It would take too much time to do that. To draw old airplanes would be difficult," Miyazaki said.

Additionally, Miyazaki acknowledged the film's controversy and is grateful that viewers in the United States have accepted the film despite its topic.

"I actually knew it would raise controversy, I knew that some people would be against these kind of protagonists, engineers making fighter planes. In another way I'm surprised and grateful to the people of the U.S. — we once fought the Second World War, but the people in the U.S. generously accepted the film."

Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Indie Wire, Animation World Network


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