The Boy and the Heron premiered at the Toronto Film Festival with a surprise guest who couldn’t help but admire Hayao Miyazaki.
Deadline reports that director Guillermo Del Toro’s surprise appearance has received a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival. Audiences may not have expected him to be the one to step onto the stage when TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey introduced him as “Miyazaki’s biggest fan”. The Oscar-winning director was eager to introduce The Boy and the Heron, but not without his first word about Miyazaki, who skipped the event to build on the film’s mystery. “He knows what makes my fat ass move!” del Toro joked to the surprised crowd.
He then excitedly emphasized to everyone that they were the first people to experience the film outside of Japan. The Boy and the Heron was deliberately targeted and released with minimal marketing effort. The film’s international premiere was also particularly special, as it was the first time a Japanese film or anime title kicked off the Toronto Film Festival. He repeated the expectation, saying “This is [movie’s] world, damn premiere” in front of a cheering crowd. He also took the opportunity to give a lengthy talk about Miyazaki’s artistic legacy.
Miyazaki Compared to Mozart
“We are privileged enough to live in an age when Mozart is composing symphonies,” Del Toro admits. “Miyazaki san is a master of that caliber and we are lucky to be here.” All of Miyazaki’s projects are critically acclaimed but any Ghibli fan will agree that Miyazaki’s works approach sublime art and mythology. Guillermo has confirmed that a lot, saying that Miyazaki “changed the medium he started with, revolutionized it, proved over and over again that it’s a tremendous work of art.”
The director also points out similarities between his art and Miyazaki’s, uncovering essential paradoxes “because [Miyazaki] understand that beauty cannot exist without horror, and sophistication cannot exist without brutality. He repeats motifs: flight, hope, despair, the power of innocence, great innocence. Each of his parables, as they become parables, is filled with faith in man and heartache about man. I believe the movie we watch tonight will be no exception.” He shared the sentiments of many fans, who will be pleased to know that contrary to previous rumors, The Boy and the Heron is not Miyazaki’s last film to collaborate with Studio Ghibli.
The Boy and the Heron will be released in the US later this year.
Source: Deadline