Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki has earned his icon status. The artist-director has overseen some of the best animated films in history, and he’s still working to this day. After leaving retirement, Miyazaki just stepped out with his new feature film The Boy and the Heron which promises to premiere stateside shortly. Now, new details are coming out about the movie’s creation, and it seems the director teared up over one part of The Boy and the Heron during production.
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And surprisingly enough, it wasn’t because of the film itself. Miyazaki was moved to tears by singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu. The hit artist was asked to do the theme song for The Boy and the Heron, and the track’s demo made Miyazaki weep.
Over on YouTube, Yonezu opened up about his work on The Boy and the Heron. The singer, who performs the film’s track “Chikyugi”, said he was first brought to the Studio Ghibli campus in 2018. However, he was formally asked to work on Miyazaki’s film after his song “Paprika” dominated Japanese airwaves amid the 2020 Olympics. Yonezu worked regularly on his theme song for The Boy and the Heron before its deadline came, and he was shocked to see Miyazaki’s reaction after turning it in.
“I asked Miyazaki to listen to a demo made from the source files. As Miyazaki only listens to music on CDs, I burned the demo onto a CD and went to him with it in my hand. I was so nervous I could have died. He was facing me as he listened to it. He was crying, tears flowing, as he took the card with the lyrics written on it. I won’t say there wasn’t any joy in his expression, but the face he showed me in that moment… it was probably the most memorable experience of my five years working with Miyazaki on this song for the film,” Yonezu shared.
As you can imagine, this kind of emotional reaction must have been rewarding for Yonezu. Music at its core is about connection, and the demo of “Chikyugi” resonated with Miyazaki. As for why the song hit so hard, Yonezu explained how personal The Boy and the Heron was to Miyazaki.
“I was only able to talk with four people [at Ghibli] in total [when writing the song]. But the very first time I reached out, Miyazaki took the opportunity to explain the film to me. However, there were no detailed explanations about the film itself, such as what the film was about-what happened in this film he was making with all his might. […] According to him, this film opens the door to who he is. He said that there are various backward or dirty parts of him that he has been hiding throughout his life and that he has been making films with the door fully closed.” […] He talked about the philosophy behind making this film, which was to express all the aspects of himself that had not been expressed until now-which he had not talked about before,” he shared.
If you have not listened to Chikyugi, you can find the single streaming on platforms like YouTube. As for The Boy and the Heron, well – the movie is only available in Japan at the moment. GKIDS has confirmed it will bring the film stateside later this year, so all eyes are fixed on the movie’s long-awaited trip overseas.
Are you excited to see Studio Ghibli’s new feature film? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!
