Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki calls off retirement for the fourth time, working on new material (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, September 9 — Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki will not be putting his pen down anytime soon.
While it was reported that Miyazaki’s latest film, The Boy and the Heron, will be his final film for the animation house, Studio Ghibli executive Junichi Nishioka told CBC News that the award-winning storyteller is still not done yet.
“Other people say that this might be his last film, but he doesn't feel that way at all.
“He is currently working on ideas for a new film. He comes into his office every day and does that.
“This time, he's not going to announce his retirement at all. He's continuing working just as he has always done,” Nishioka said.
The 82-year-old filmmaker, animator and manga artist first announced plans to retire following the release of Princess Mononoke, a film that set new records at the box office for Japanese animation and revolutionised the medium.
In 2001, Miyazaki announced plans to retire following the release of Spirited Away, before repeating it in 2013 following the release of The Wind Rises before Studio Ghibli made the surprise announcement that Miyazaki would return The Boy and the Heron in 2020.
The Boy and the Heron, released in Japan last July under the title How Do You Live? marked Miyazaki’s return after a decade.
The fantastical story revolves around a boy called Mahito who explores a world between the living and the dead to find his late mother.
The film was also released with no promotional materials aside from a cryptic poster.
Amongst Miyazaki’s most notable works includes animated films such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbour Totoro.
Spirited Away won Best Animated Feature at the 2001 Academy Awards making it the first, and to date only, hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to win the award.
