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| photo by Takashi Shinjyo |
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I read the storyboards before I saw the film, and saw a lot of directions for quite elaborate effects. Many of them seemed difficult to achieve in animation, but relatively easy in a live-action film.
Did you think so? I didn't find them that hard. (laughs)
But images in a TV series are normally quite static and separated. Angles tend to stay locked off, and animation concentrates on mouth-movements.
Well, in the TV series, it was technically impossible to, say, film the characters in motion through a distorted lens. But in the movie we were faced with numerous challenges like that, things you can only try in a film _ the chance for a live-action look, even though it wasn't really a live-action film. We aimed to use more difficult technical effects, so I'm sure the staff had a tough time.
So is that something we should watch out for in the movie?
It's not just the images, we pushed ourselves on the story, on facial expressions, on everything _ I wanted a real feature-film format. But I kept the whole "Bebop Flavor" in mind as well, so some viewers may not notice a difference from the TV series.
You mean that you didn't just make it elaborate because it was a movie, but also retained the Bebop style?
I guess so.
I heard that you have wanted to be a film-maker since your school days.
When the dream came true, was there a gap between reality and the way you'd imagined it? Or was it just the way you'd thought it would be?
When I was young, I mainly watched European films, and I thought I would end up making movies like that. But I suppose what I'm doing is much more commercial.
Have you discovered that you are more suited to the kind of films you have been making?
Yes. Before I did Cowboy Bebop, the people around me thought I would make darker films. But it's only by actually making movies that you can discover your own talents. You find out things about yourself you couldn't have known before the production.
Anime productions seem to have larger crews and longer schedules than live-action. Does that give you a different, more objective outlook?
The animated nature of the production forces you to have a sense of proportion. When you make live-action, you just point the cameras and shoot.
But in animation, every image has to be constructed, so your ideas get filtered.
For example, if you want to shoot through a fish-eye lens, it has to be drawn distortedly. You have to ask yourself, "why do I need a fish-eye lens here?" and "do I really need this shot at all?" What's more, you have to explain all that to the artist. So although you may have an idea of a scene in your head, you are forced to face up to others' points of view when you explain it to the animators.
On this film, there has been a lot of talk about your use of guest-directors Hiroyuki Okiura (for the opening sequence) and Tensai Okamura (the Western film-within-the-film). Did you deliberately ask others to do segments with different sensibilities?
Those sections are very different from the main body of the film, and there was no way the schedule would allow me to do them myself (laughs). I thought it was better to delegate to someone I could trust. Those are the fun parts of the movie, anyway.
That's quite surprising. I got the impression that you were the kind of person who would do everything if he could. I think you are a lot like Stanley Kubrick in that regard.
Well, I do everything that I think I can handle. For example, Clint Eastwood and John Carpenter also compose music for their films. They may end up with something they think they want, but the music itself isn't that great. I don't want that. It is much better to work with people who are more talented than I am, and to let them create something that is greater than my own expectations.
The Cowboy Bebop movie has an Arabesque atmosphere, everywhere from the images to the music. You actually went to Morocco on a location hunt, as well. Was that all part of the plan?
I had more of a flavor, or gut instinct if you like, than a visual concept. I just felt this piece should be Arabic. Even though I went there, if what I saw was not good for the film, I wouldn't have used it. But I made this film using the inspiration I got while I was in Morocco.
In the TV series, there were cities that seemed modelled on Hong Kong and New York. Did you want something different this time?
Well, yes. Because, the Arab world is alien to me and wasn't used much in the TV series.
You cast Tsutomu Isobe and Ai Kobayashi as guest voice actors, neither of whom has much animation experience. What led you to that decision?
I knew exactly what kind of voice I wanted. Especially with Ai _ the moment I heard her demo tape, I thought: "That's it! She's Electra!" With Tsutomu, too, I felt that I had exactly the right voice. Dramatically, I wanted to get people who could give a raw, naturalist feel to Bebop.
Did you always have Renji Ishibashi in mind for the role of Renji?
Not as such. When we were planning out the convenience store robbery scene, the writer Keiko Nobumoto said she could not get any inspiration. So, we decided to use an existing actor as a model, and the character was based on Renji Ishibashi. When we offered him the part for real, we were half-joking, and doubted that he would actually agree to do it. But then he did!
Oh, I see! I did wonder who "Renji" was supposed to be in the film.
I was so pleased that he actually said yes. He's just the coolest actor.
(laughs).
The plot revolves around an undercover military project, which lives in an organism and uses blood as a vector. Was this intended as a metaphor for HIV?
I didn't think of that. I didn't intend it to be an analogy for HIV. But if that's what the viewers want to make of it, that's fine with me.
Also, I think it is very psychedelic. You use the name of Hofmann (the developer of LSD) and there's one scene where water is deliberately polluted with a virus.
Yeah, it was Timothy Leary who plotted to poison water with LSD in the 1960s, wasn't it? (laughs) I think the name really is a coincidence, but there is an acid element to it. It can get a little psychedelic. There are certainly hallucination scenes.
In the film, you have the character of Lee, who is unable to distinguish between death in a game and death in reality. Many people die in the film, but did you want to question society's desensitisation to violence by using a character who truly feels the pain of death?
I didn't set out to make it a "statement," as such. I don't make films to convey a particular message. Movies naturally reflect the way we feel at the time.
They entertain us, but they're also a document of whatever we're thinking about, but can't put into words. That's what I think film is like as a medium _ I'm interested in the feelings it instils in the people who go to see it.
With which character do you empathise the best? Or on whom do you feel you can best project yourself?
That's a difficult question. I can empathise with all the characters, but at the same time I have to keep them all at arm's length. Otherwise I cannot create with them. There are bits of me in every one of the characters. I am sure many people will say they don't empathise with Vincent, but I even understand him.
Vincent is the most evil character in the Bebop series. Was this your chance to show something you couldn't get away with on TV?
Well, I'm not saying that Vincent is nothing more than my dark side, but... (laughs) it is partly true. I don't think of it as a particularly unique feature of the story. We all have our moments when we lose our temper and want to destroy everything, don't we?
And finally the question that all the fans are asking. Will there be more after this, or is this really the end of Cowboy Bebop?
Well... I don't think we should just keep on making Cowboy Bebop sequels for the sake of it. It's more in keeping with the Bebop spirit to quit while we're ahead _ when people still want more. Don't you think?
ENDS |
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