THE FINAL WORD

Miyazaki, Bored to Tears With Retirement, Will Make One Last Film

The Studio Ghibli icon first retired in 2013, but found his golden years “so aimless” that he began work on a new movie project, dedicated to his grandson.

Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has confirmed his plans to emerge from retirement and make one final feature. In a new interview with The New York Times Style Magazine, the Studio Ghibli giant said he would be directing a new project called How Do You Live? When asked by the magazine why he was saddling up for one more ride, Miyazaki simply said: “Because I wanted to.”

Speaking to IndieWire recently, Miyazaki’s son said the celebrated filmmaker had gotten so bored in retirement that he “needed to create something in order to live, basically.” Miyazaki has announced and axed his retirement more than once over the course of his four-decade career. After making his 2013 film The Wind Rises, however, it seemed that he really meant it, shutting down Studio Ghibli’s production offices.

The first announcement regarding How Do You Live? was made four years later, when Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said that Miyazaki would be coming out of retirement to make the film. Based on a 1937 novel about a mischievous boy, How Do You Live? is being made for his grandson, according to Suzuki. “It’s his way of saying, ‘Grandpa is moving on to the next world, but he’s leaving behind this film,’” the producer said in a 2017 interview.