Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea)

13th December 2005

Prologue - My Father Was Against It

My father, Hayao Miyazaki, was against my directing "Tales from Earthsea". This might sound abrupt. However it's something that I'd like to make clear at the outset.

Also, to be honest, setting up this diary on the net, and appearing in front of everybody in this way, is definitely not the result of my own wishes. If there is something I want to say in my own voice, it's this:
"Please watch the finished work",
- that's all.

My wish as a director is: "Please watch "Tales from Earthsea", with a completely fresh mind, free from distractions," - that's all.

But once the publicity for "Tales of Earthsea" starts up, regardless of whether I like it or not, as the director, I can easily imagine that I will be labelled with the adjective "Miyazaki Hayao's son". Faced with this, the conclusion Producer Suzuki came out with was that obviously I should "let the work itself speak for me", but "in order to showcase 'the work itself' you still need to let them know you not as 'Miyazaki Hayao's son', but as the individual human being Goro Miyazaki".

After much thought, I agreed with him. That is, although it seems back to front, I decided to try through this diary, by telling you what sort of things I the director have been thinking, to get people to take an unprejudiced look at "Tales from Earthsea".

The adoption of the internet as the means of doing this was because this was the most direct media for connecting to people. Of course the traditional option of giving interviews to the mass media and holding press conferences was also considered. However, in order to try an experiment like the one discussed above, it was thought that a method that didn't pass through the filter of the media might transmit the ideas in a more direct form.

As I said at the start, I won't rush to reveal the reason for my father's opposition here. That is, I think it's more appropriate to reveal it later, during the discussion of my experiences as a director and the daily production situation.

Finally, there are two reasons I accepted the job of directing "Tales from Earthsea". First is the attraction I felt to the original "Earthsea" stories. The second is that I had discovered within myself a love of animation which, because of my relationship with my father, I had pretended for a long time not to notice, until now.

I don't want to roll out lots of hard details about the film before it opens, but I'll make the theme I want to transmit clear:
"What is it to live properly now?"

And this is the way of life I want to have, and also the theme of this weblog.