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The Boy and the Heron (2023)
The Boy and the Heron is a 2023 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Produced by Studio Ghibli, the film's Japanese title references Genzaburō Yoshino's 1937 novel How Do You Live? but is not an adaptation of it. The film stars the voices of Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Kaoru Kobayashi, and Shinobu Otake. It follows a boy named…
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki · Shot by Atsushi Okui · Cut by Takeshi Seyama · Music by Kenshi Yonezu, Joe Hisaishi · 124 min
How it was made
- Miyazaki began storyboarding the film in July 2016 and, unlike his earlier films, did not personally oversee every frame, instead focusing on storyboards while animation director Takeshi Honda ran the animation process.
- By May 2020, three years into production, roughly 60 animators had completed about 36 minutes of the film; producer Toshio Suzuki said the crew was still hand-drawing everything but that it took longer because they were using more frames per shot.
- Studio Ghibli licensed some of its earlier films to streaming platforms including Netflix specifically to help finance the production, a deal Suzuki had to persuade Miyazaki to accept since Miyazaki did not use a computer or smartphone.
- Total production spanned about seven years: roughly two and a half years of pre-production and five years of production, making it, according to Suzuki, the most expensive film ever produced in Japan.
- Robert Pattinson spent several weeks developing a nasal growl to voice the Heron for the English dub, which then let him record all of his dialogue in two days.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Hayao Miyazaki
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