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Spirited Away (2001)
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho. The film stars Rumi Hiiragi, alongside Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono, and Bunta Sugawara. It follows a young girl named Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, who moves to a new neighborhood and…
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki · Shot by Atsushi Okui · Cut by Takeshi Seyama · Music by Joe Hisaishi · 125 min
How it was made
- The film was made on a budget of about ¥1.9 billion (roughly $15 million); Disney's 10 percent investment secured the right of first refusal for North American distribution.
- As with Princess Mononoke, the staff experimented with Softimage 3D computer animation but used it carefully so it would not 'steal the show' from the mostly hand-drawn characters, with Miyazaki working alongside animators to check the results.
- Miyazaki based the spirit-world bathhouse partly on one from his hometown and drew further inspiration from Meiji-period buildings at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum and from the Notoya Ryokan inn in Yamagata Prefecture.
- The story as originally plotted would have run over three hours, forcing Miyazaki to cut numerous scenes and simplify visual detail to bring it down to length.
- Composer Joe Hisaishi's closing song, 'Always With Me,' had originally been written for an unreleased Miyazaki project called Rin the Chimney Painter, and hearing it is what inspired Miyazaki to create Spirited Away in the first place.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Hayao Miyazaki
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