(Source: news.yahoo.com)
It seems that the international press has finally noticed that anime legend Hayao Miyazaki and his son Goro aren't exactly getting along these days.
In case you're coming late to the party, here's the run-down: Studio Ghibli (the company responsible for producing such Hayao Miyazaki classics as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro) managed to convince author Ursula K. LeGuin that they could properly adapt one her classic Earthsea novels into a movie. A once-bitten-twice-shy LeGuin agreed, mainly because she was such a huge fan of Miyazaki's work.
Unfortunately, Miyazaki was unavailable; having been called out of retirement to direct Howl's Moving Castle. Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki then asked another Miyazaki, his eldest son Goro, to submit some storyboard ideas for the proposed Tales from Earthsea movie (Gedo Senki in Japan). Impressed with his work, Suzuki got Goro to both write and direct the movie, despite the fact that this would be Goro's first flick. A stung Hayao publicly stated that Goro lacked the necessary experience to direct a full-length feature film, which caused a rift between father and son.
According to other sources, Hayao's disapproval of Goro's directing Earthsea stemmed from baser motives: fears that his son could rival and perhaps supplant his position as Japan's greatest anime director. As fellow director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) observed in a CH4 interview: "(Hayao) has the sense of crisis that he is being driven into retirement by the young generation. He tries to kick the other party to the bottom of a ravine, even in the case of his own son . . . (Hayao's) motivation be full of . . ."
Goro added to the controversy, saying that his father was rarely around when he was growing up. He even posted an entry about Hayao in his internet diary titled: "Zero points as a father; Top points as a director."
Additionally, one of the first scenes in Earthsea depicts a frustrated prince stabbing his father to death. Many feel this sequence holds greater connotations in light of the father-son feud.
The younger Miyazaki eventually finished Tales from Earthsea in 9 months, half the time Hayao took to make Howl's Moving Castle. The movie hit Japanese theatres on July 28th, debuting at #1. Despite mixed reviews (many of which unfavourably compared Earthsea to Hayao's best films), Tales from Earthsea kept the top spot for six weeks, beating such high-powered contenders as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Hayao even admitted in a note to his son: "It was an honest way of making (the movie), and good."
However, Ursula K. LeGuin wasn't happy with the adaptation, saying in her blog: "Much of it was beautiful. Many corners were cut, however, in the animation of this quickly made film. It does not have the delicate accuracy of (Hayao's) Totoro or the powerful and splendid richness of detail of Spirited Away. The imagery is effective but often conventional."
She said the film's "excitement was maintained by violence, to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books."
LeGuin also said that contractual conflicts will keep Tales from Earthsea from coming to North America until 2009 at the earliest.
Significantly, Hayao did not accompany his son to the Venice Film Festival, where Tales from Earthsea received a standing ovation at its premiere screening. The elder Miyazaki is currently working on an as-yet-untitled movie, the success of Earthsea drawing him out of retirement for the 3rd time. He initially retired in 1998 after directing Princess Mononoke, but returned when a daughter's friend inspired him to develop 2001's Spirited Away. Hayao retired yet again, but took over Howl's Moving Castle in 2004 when original director Mamoru Hosoda abruptly left the project.
There's not much information about this new film, except that it will be set in Kobe, Japan, and that Hayao is working unusually hard on pre-production. According to www.nausicaa.net, he even painted watercoloured storyboards for Ghibli staff.
"Even we have not seen a colored storyboard very much," says the studio's September 30th production diary. "It is the first time in Ghibli films."
This movie is scheduled for a summer 2008 release, which means a 20-month production period. This is a longer production time than Hayao took on either Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle.
It's plain that Hayao Miyazaki feels he still has something to prove: that he remains anime's greatest director, even after Tales from Earthsea's acclaim. On the other hand, it's unlikely that Goro will return to landscaping (his first career) after such an impressive directorial debut.
What's unfortunate for the family's domestic tranquility is a boon for animation lovers: we now have two Miyazakis putting out great work in a bid to out-do one another.
