STARBURST: Congratulations on the film - how has the reaction from the fans been for you?
Makoto Shinkai: Simply amazing. It’s the number one Japanese film at the box office in 2019. I didn’t expect that and I’m really happy that it has reached that height. We’ve had a lot of young support too, which is great to see.
How proud are you that Weathering with You was put forward as Japan’s entry for Best International Film at the Academy Awards? What does that mean to you as a filmmaker and creator?
It’s very unusual for an animated film to be representing Japan – the last time was Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke in the late ‘90s, so it really is a surprise and a huge honour. But on the other hand I’d never really given any thought to Oscars – I started off as an independent filmmaker and I was never interested in prizes so the fact that I’ve been nominated now requires a lot of lobbying and things like that, which is completely removed from what I do, which is creating films – it just feels like something very far away and a completely different world. And, of course, it didn’t make the final shortlist, but it was an honour to be considered.
As with Your Name and your other films, you also wrote the screenplay as well as directed. Where did your inspiration for the story come from?
There are a few inspirations – the biggest is the fact that climate change is becoming a reality and every year in Japan we are getting these really heavy rains that are causing flooding. They’re becoming more frequent, along with other natural disasters, so I thought it was a good time to make a film on the theme of weather.
This story is from the February 2020 edition of Starburst Magazine.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of Starburst Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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