‘The Boy And The Heron’ Supervising Animator Takeshi Honda On Creating Characters “Set In Reality” For A “Somber And Serious” Fantasy
10.01.2024 - 00:49
/ deadline.com
Although he was planning on continuing work on the Evangelion series, supervising animator Takeshi Honda decided to join The Boy and the Heron after speaking with director Hayao Miyazaki. In working closely with the “renowned maestro”, Honda found ways to ground the characters in reality to match a more somber style.
In his most personal work to date, Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron follows the story of a young boy named Mahito, who has recently lost his mother. Along with a cunning and deceptive gray heron, he journeys to a mysterious world outside of time where the dead and the living coexist. The Boy and the Heron won the 2024 Golden Globe for Best Animated Motion Picture.
DEADLINE: How did you get involved with The Boy and the Heron?
TAKESHI HONDA: I had been working with Studio Ghibli from quite a while back. The first one I did was Portable Airport. And then after that, Tales from Earthsea, and then after that came Ponyo, which was the first feature film I did with him.
And to speak further about my kind of relationship with Miyazaki, I was also working on Boro the Caterpillar, which is a short-animated film, and while we were working on this, he came to me with his next offer. He said, “Come with me and let’s make my next film together. I want you on my next film.” I was planning to do Evangelion, so it was a very, very hard decision because of course I’ve been involved with Evangelion for 20 years now by that point. But he says to me, “This is going to be my final film, so you have to come.” I had to have a little time to think, but I ultimately decided to get on board with Miyazaki-san.
DEADLINE: What was it like working with Miyazaki on a film that he had a personal connection to?
HONDA: It was a very good