Highlights
- The Boy and the Heron has exceeded expectations, winning international awards and surprising fans with Miyazaki’s hidden project.
- The highly anticipated film, despite no plot or trailer, received rave reviews, proving Studio Ghibli’s name is enough to draw audiences.
- Miyazaki’s humble responses in a recent interview showed perseverance throughout seven years, paired with a surprising clean-shaven appearance.
This Sunday will be the 96th Oscars, or Academy Awards, presentation. While many people are, of course, interested in seeing what movie will win the coveted Best Picture, there is a lot of excitement regarding the Animated Film category this year. Studio Ghibli’s film The Boy and the Heron has been nominated alongside Western-produced English-language films, which has anime and Ghibli fans around the world excited about the possibility of an anime movie winning an Oscar (and not even in the foreign film category).
A special interview was conducted with the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki. In the lighthearted interview, the two discuss a little about the production of the movie and how long it took, bringing a lot of delight to their fans and showing people who may not know Studio Ghibli a little glimpse at the two men who brought it to life.
The Boy and the Heron’s Journey to the Oscars
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Title |
The Boy and the Heron |
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Release Date |
Jul. 14th, 2023 |
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Run Time |
2 hours, 3 minutes |
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Rating |
7.6 (IMDB) |
The Boy and the Heron began as something unexpected, even though everyone thought that Hayao Miyazaki was done releasing movies. After a long gap after The Wind Rises in 2013, The Boy and the Heron was finally released a decade later when most people had given up hope of any more Miyazaki films. Before releasing, Miyazaki revealed nothing about the movie, and it did not have a trailer, cast list, plot summary, or anything more than a poster.
But that did not stop people from going to see it, just as Miyazaki predicted. The Studio Ghibli name, and his name, were enough to draw curious crowds out in droves to check out the latest film. And when the good reviews started to pour in, it only gained momentum. Since its release seven months ago, The Boy and the Heron has gone on to already win several awards, including a Golden Globe. It is running against other big-name animated films at the Oscars this weekend, including Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Elemental, but we will soon see if it can win again.
An Interview with Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Skip ahead to 24:10 if you would like to watch the interview in full.
In the run-up to the Academy Awards this weekend, the official YouTube channel for the awards ceremony has been posting features and interviews of the nominees. The Boy and the Heron has been nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film, and the interview was conducted with none other than the founders of the famous production company, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki themselves. Conveniently for international audiences, since the Academy Awards are an English-language award show, the YouTube feature has English subtitles.
I’m glad that I made it all the way to the end.
In the short interview, Miyazaki and Toshio answer several questions about the movie. One in particular stands out from the rest, though. The Boy and the Heron has been called Miyazaki’s magnum opus, and his greatest film of all time. It is the first one to win international awards, it is true. When Miyazaki was asked what he was happy about with the movie, he answered simply, “I’m glad that I made it all the way to the end.” It is a humble, fitting answer for Miyazaki, especially considering he is 83 years old right now, and seven years made for a long production period for one movie.
The interview goes on with a casual atmosphere, even as Miyazaki is drinking tea and Suzuki excuses himself at the end to attend another interview. Before he leaves, the two share a laugh that Miyazaki was able to persist through seven years of work on The Boy and the Heron because “the money [kept] on coming.” Without even releasing a plot or a trailer for the movie, The Boy and the Heron was popular by name alone, so it is no surprise that Miyazaki was able to get money to produce it even though it took a long time, and little information was ever shared.
What got everyone talking more than what Miyazaki and Toshio said in the interview, though, was the internet’s surprise at Miyazaki’s appearance. The iconic director has sported a beard for over thirty years now, but in this interview, he has a clean-shaven face. While he also had it in another interview last fall, most people did not expect it to be his long-term look. It seems, though, that Miyazaki is going for a change in his appearance, and if he wanted to stir up people online, he succeeded – though that’s unlikely, given his character, let’s be honest.
Source: YouTube via SoraNews24
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