Anime Expo New York - Millenium Actress Premier

By Andrew Tei     August 31, 2002

This Q&A session contains small spoilers for
Millennium Actress. You have been warned. This is not word by word, and has
gone through an interpreter.



Conventions

J – Justin Sevakis

TM – Taro Maki

A – Audience Question



The second nightly premiere showing at the Big Apple Anime Fest went much
smoother than the first night. After everyone got seated, Justin Sevakis
introduced the audience to Taro Maki, the executive producer for Millennium
Actress.



Justin: Stuart Little 2 is down the hall. In all seriousness folks, this is a
very special screening. Not only is it the US premiere, but we have Mr. Taro
Maki here. So with no further ado, let me bring out Mr. Taro Maki.



Taro Maki: Good evening. My name is Mr. Taro Maki. I produced Millennium
Actress. Today’s premiere is the first screening the US, and it is sold out so
you are all very lucky. The Japanese release is September 14, so you will be
seeing this before the Japanese audience. There are many prestigious awards in
Japan, but I received an award as Sen to Chihiro by Miyazaki Japan’s Cultural
Ministry Award. And sometime next year, Dreamworks will distribute it
worldwide. This is a type of work that probably even the Japanese anime fan
hasn’t seen before. It will probably surprise them.



The screening then started, a few minutes early.



Justin: Producer, Mr. Taro Maki. *much clapping* Mr. Maki will be speaking
through an interpreter.



Emi: Hello, my name is Emi. (I saw her at a panel at Shoujocon)



Justin: Alright, so where do we begin? First, thank you very much. That was an
amazing experience.



*lots of audience clapping*



Taro Maki: Thanks you very much everyone.



Justin: What the hell happened to that other microphone? *goes searching* Ok
that’s better. First of all, this is a very unusual project, how did it come
about?



TM: I saw the director’s (Satoshi Kon) previous work with Perfect Blue, which
I had nothing to do with, but I really wanted to work with him.



J: Whose idea was the story?



TM: The story was the idea of the director. However I wanted the idea of going
back and forth through reality and imaginary just like Perfect Blue, so I did
ask for that. I wanted a feeling of something like an optical illusion, so
that depending on how you looked at something, you would have a different
picture of it.



J: Were you immediately receptive to this idea? Or did it take some time to
raise money for such an ambitious project?



TM: The story which is about a 70 year old great actress and her life, and
trying to raise money for a story like this was difficult. There are no
robots. There is no action. No girls with big breasts. *laughter* The question
people raise is, why was this an anime? I wanted to create the interest you
can only get with movies.



J: Well, obviously this film has yet to open in Japan? What sort of reception
do you expect in Japan? Will it be slow to build? Will people eventually find
this classic?



TM: Even in Japan, animation gets put into a certain type of category. Because
of this, it will take a certain amount of time to catch on. The reviews I have
been getting from critics though are excellent.



J: Eventually, this will open around the world. And probably dubbed into
English eventually, right?



TM: It will be distributed by Dreamworks, so I’m not sure if it will be
dubbed. But I believe it will be. IT appeals to a broader audience.



J: Who would you like to play Chiyoko (the actress in the movie) in English?



TM: The part of Chiyoko was done by three separate voice actresses. It was
done by young Chiyoko, middle aged Chiyoko, and Chiyoko now. Maybe that’s
Jodie Foster. I think it will be difficult to be done by one actress, since
she would have to be able to create several different voices.



J: Ok, let’s see what you guys have to ask.



Audience Question: About the insertion of the films makes into Chiyoko’s
story, was it purely symbolic? Or was it technology? And why did you do that?



TM: It depends on the perception of the viewer. The fact that you are
wondering about what happened, shows that I succeeded as a film maker.



Q: Were the giant monsters in the film homage to Godzilla? What about the
other movies? Were they homage to other movies or were they all just made up??



TM: It’s not actually Godzilla. It just looks like Godzilla. As to the other
movies shown, they are generic movies. If they seem familiar to you, then I
succeeded.



Q: Is this movie supposed to be based on someone who lived in Japan? Was it a
real person or someone made up?



TM: It’s not based on a real actress, but I did use as a reference several
actresses in Japan. There was one well know actress in Japan, Setsu Kohara,
who disappeared and led a reclusive life in her later years. So if you were
Japanese, you would probably be references there. I believe most actors and
actresses have an exciting and chaotic life.



Q: Aside from funding, what do you feel was the most difficult part of making
this film?



TM: This movie is like a puzzle, and it was difficult to tell if the last
piece fit correctly. The movie wasn’t made haphazardly, everything was
calculated. And that was the most difficult part of this.



Q: This is a bit of an odd one. Chiyoko has a beauty mark underneath her left
eye. I’m seen other anime character with this mark, is there any superstition
to this beauty mark as I have seen it in other animes?



TM: There is a Japanese fortune telling about how you can tell someone’s
fortune by the location of their beauty mark. I used it to be able to identify
Chiyoko as she ages.



Q: Besides Perfect Blue, what other animes have influenced you to other
project? And if any, what are they?



TM: There are no movies in particular, but since I probably saw the same
movies as the director, maybe there are some similar influences there. It
would be subliminal though.



Q: I was wondering, how Sumo Hirosawa was chosen to do the music for the
movie?



TM: The director was inspired by the end theme, Lotus, so we decided to use
Hirosawa for the entire movie.



Q: How long did it take to produce the film? How many people were on board?
What animation techniques did you use?



TM: About two and a half year. Two hundred staff was involved. It was made on
a very low budget, but I tried to make it look like it wasn’t. So I put a lot
of effort into the storyboards, and the way it was drawn. If you look very
carefully, there are a lot of scenes where nothing is moving.



Someone from audience in Japanese: Next time, give us more budget.



Justin: Ladies and gentleman, the animation producer, Mr. Mariyama.



*MASSIVE SPOILER QUESTION*

Q: I was wondering if you were ever considering the idea of the protagonist
and the painter meeting at the end? I realize that would change everything.



TM: I couldn’t do that, because that would end the story.



Q: I liked many times about the film. Especially how you went through
different times, and had the documentary film makers be involved. But I
believed you made a joke on us. You never told us what the key was about. What
is it for?



TM: The people who watch the key in Japan, interpret the key as various
things. So an American audience should also.



Q: Watching the movie, I was constantly reminded of the movie the Stuntman.
Did it have any influence?



TM: I don’t know the movie.



Q: My question is similar. I noticed a lot of structural similarities between
this and Citizen Kane, especially with the key. Are they any similarties?



TM: I think that’s an interesting opinion, but that’s the first time I thought
about Citizen Kane



Q: Obviously the theme of Japanese history ran through this film, will that
make it hard for foreign audience to get it. Or are the themes universal?



TM: I don’t think it matters much.



J: That’s all the time we have for now. Thank you very much for coming.