The first thing Pixar’s Pete Docter noticed when he visited the studios of legendary Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki is that it pretty much consists of just him.
Pete Doctor visited Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli in the suburbs just outside of Tokyo. He is there adapting the english version of Miyazaki’s latest film, Howl’s Moving Castle. Pete had to do the same thing when giving up Monsters Inc. to a foreign crew to do the other versions of it.
“It’s him versus us,” the affable animator adds, laughing. “Not to say, which is better or worse, but we have a very collaborative process. We have anywhere from eight or 12 or so story people, who are drawing the storyboards. We have the writers. We have the director, of course, and everybody kind of contributing to the film, whereas in Japan, it’s just him.” says Pete. “Miyazaki sits there and draws and paints and does all the character design and all the storyboards and pins them up all over.”
Read the article here. Also check out our article on Howl’s Moving Castle here.
Last modified: June 13, 2005