Celebrated filmmaker and Studio Ghibli legend Hayao Miyazaki is coming out of retirement to make one last movie.
During an interview with the New York Times, the 80-year-old Japanese filmmaker again confirmed that he will be making one more film – a feature-length project called How Do You Live?
When asked why he was making another movie, Miyazaki replied: “Because I wanted to.”
Miyazaki had originally announced his retirement back in 2013, but later made a short film for the Ghibli Museum titled Earwig and the Witch with his son, Goro Miyazaki. Then, in 2018, Miyazaki announced that he would be coming out of retirement once again.
“[He] needed to create something in order to live, basically,” said Goro about his father’s return to filmmaking.
Although details of his upcoming feature-film are scarce, How Do You Live? will be based on a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino. Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki described the film as “fantasy on a grand scale”.
The only other detail Suzuki would share is that he sees himself in one of the film’s characters, who is not human.
The 1937 novel How Do You Live? tells the story of 15-year-old Junichi Honda following the death of his father. The young boy, known by his nickname Koperu (after astronomer, Copernicus), goes to live with his uncle, and finds himself living very differently – the book deals with perspective, the structure of society and how Koperu views how he fits in.
The book ends with the narrator asking the question: “How do you live?”
Although How Do You Live? has been in the works since 2018, this latest interview offers more of a statement of intent – it is coming. Quite when remains to be seen. But the studio previously said it hopes the film will be completed in the next three years.
Asked how he would answer the question “How Do You Live?” Miyazaki replied: “I am making this movie because I do not have the answer.”
But will this really be Miyazaki’s final film?
“In the West, we always need to know how things end,” said Suzuki. “At Ghibli, the last scene is often a mystery.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.