This one’s the last one… er… until the next one.
The Asahi Shimbun reports that Hayao Miyazaki announced the title of his final film. Miyazaki spoke at the opening of a memorial to late novelist Natsume Soseki (Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat), which was held at Tokyo’s Waseda University. During his commentary, Miyazaki revealed that the movie will be titled Kimi-tachi wa dou Ikiru ka? (How Are You Living?), and shares its title with a book by Genzaburo Yoshino.
Miyazaki noted that the Yoshino’s book will have a special meaning to the film’s lead. He also noted that he expects the film to take three to four years to complete.
In May, Studio Ghibli put out a hiring call for new background artists and in-between animators for the feature. In February, we reported that Miyazaki was doing prep work for a new feature film, with the aim of having it in theaters by the 2020 Olympics. Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki noted at the time that “[r]ight now in Tokyo, he’s putting all his effort into making it [the feature].”
In November, we reported that Miyazaki expressed a desire to return to movie production. In NHK special Owaranai Hito Miyazaki Hayao (The Man Who Is Not Done: Hayao Miyazaki), it was revealed that Miyazaki was working on CGI short Kemushi no Boro. He wasn’t satisfied with the format, though, and presented a project proposal for a feature-length film in August 2016.
Miyazaki commented on the matter, stating that if the feature would take five years to make, he’d be 80 by the end of production. Though Miyazaki retired from feature films after 2013’s The Wind Rises, he continued to work as a director on shorts and features for the Studio Ghibli Museum.
Kemushi no Boro opened in July at the Studio Ghibli museum.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
