Hayao Miyazaki Is Impressed With Studio Ghibli's New Film

Revered animation director Hayao Miyazaki has a reputation for being a hard man to please. When his own son, Goro Miyazaki, made his directorial debut with Tale From Earthsea, Hayao publicly stated, in no uncertain terms, that his son should probably stop making movies.

That's why it's so stunning to hear Miyazaki offer some solid praise for Studio Ghibli's next film, The Red Turtle. The feature is a French-Belgian-Japanese joint production and is the directorial debut of Dutch-British animator Michaël Dudok de Wit.

At a press conference for the film, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said he spoke to Miyazaki about The Red Turtle. Suzuki said that Miyazaki told him, "Right now, as for the state of world animation, Japanese animation is influential in good and bad ways. As far as I can tell from watching your film, there is a complete lack of Japanese animation influences. That is commendable.

"[We're] making something with a wonderful staff." Miyazaki is said to have told Suzuki, "I want this staff. If I had this staff, I also could do [this]."

Suzuki himself then added, with a laugh, "[Miyazaki] has retired, so I don't want him thinking about that."

The Red Turtle tells the story of a man who is stranded on a tropical island. Each time he attempts to leave, a giant turtle destroys the man's raft.

Miyazaki, 75, co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. He retired from feature filmmaking in 2013, following the release of his eleventh movie, The Wind Rises, but is working a short film, Boro the Caterpillar.

via Kotaku