Bottle George writer and executive producer Akihiro Nishino. Ahead of the U.S. premiere of the new stop-motion animated short Bottle George, Anime News Network sat down with writer Akihiro Nishino and talked not only about the film and its creation, but also about its insights. its more. message and how it connects to Nishino's past.
Although now known as a children's book author and artist, Nishino first rose to fame in another medium entirely. “I started out as a manzai comedian and then started appearing on popular TV shows,” Nishino began. “However, I realized that even as I continued to do television, I I won't be able to improve as long as Japanese limits me. Since that's the case, I'll have to do something easier.”translate—or use nonverbal communication […] So I thought drawing could be an option and started drawing.”
However, despite the obvious artistic talent demonstrated in his many successful books, that remains true. a struggle at first. “When I started writing comics, I realized I wasn't very good at it. Things are a bit complicated. So I think if I continue like this, I won't be able to break into this field.” However, he discovered he had an advantage that many other professional authors did not have: time. “I realized that it takes a lot of time to create a book—and authors first have to make a living, so they can't take that long to create a work,” Nishino explains. . “I realized that, at that time, I was still on TV regularly. […] In other words, even if I don't have any income from writing comics, I'm still not completely broke.” This allowed Nishino to take as much time as necessary to complete his book—and in doing so, he packed an incredible amount of detail onto each page.
Nishino first became interested in making a film based on his work about a decade ago. “When I was writing my fourth picture book, Poupelle of Chimney Town, I realized I wanted to make a movie,” Nishino told me. So when he painted, he painted with a filmmaker's eye—designing pictures almost as if they were storyboards. cinematic way, people would come up and say, 'Hey, this would be a good movie!'” It seemed to work out when Chimney Town's Poupelle got an animated film STUDIO4°C in 2020.
For Chai George, it all started with a chance meeting between Nishino and director Daisuke'Dice'Tsutsumi at a film festival where Nishino was a guest speaker. “Director Tsutsumi and I hit it off, went out for drinks, had fun, and started talking about doing something fun together—and in the end that's exactly what happened,” Nishino laugh. Of course, things didn't start out so simply, and it wasn't until about six months later that Nishino began writing about what would become Bottle George.
“Initially, I started with the idea of making However, one day, Director Tsutsumi asked me if we could try making the story with stop-motion animation—and although it seemed like it would It takes a lot of work but I think it will be fun. I told Director Tsutsumi,'Let's do it.'”
“The story changed shape during production,” Nishino explains. “At first, it's more of a 'second try' story—basically when the first thing you try doesn't work and you give up, but then you pick yourself up and start something else . challenge.”
Of course, this reflects the flow of Nishino's own life. “I started as a comedian, then switched to television. I thought it wasn't suitable for me so I withdrew. But then I started making comics and movies, which was my second attempt.” However, although part of this theme remained in the final version of the film, it was no longer the main focus. more.”During that process, we decided to focus a little more attention on the setting—on the creature who drank too much and got stuck in the bottle. To turn it into a story about addiction.”
This shift in focus comes from a personal perspective—his friend's struggle with addiction.”We're pretty close friends so we know each other quite a bit, or rather, we see each other about every other day. once a month, go out to dinner and things like that—but we always try to encourage each other to do that. try hard. I have tried that [với cơn nghiện của họ], but things didn't get any better. They said they would stop, but I felt like they would start again as soon as I wasn't paying attention.”
“This went on for a long time, and I realized that I had misunderstood what addiction was—that it wasn't a simple problem that could be solved by saying, 'Let's do our best. strength'” Nishino continued: “It's a very troublesome disease. And I realized that it can't cure just one person.”It was then that Nishino realized that his friend's story and Bottle George's story were the same.
Bottle George's title card This card added another layer of complexity to the film. After all, this is a film by a children's author aimed at children; A happy ending is almost obvious. “I think if I gave this story a really happy ending it would mislead people into thinking that addiction can be cured by telling people to try their best, but that's not the case. ”, Nishino lamented. The best thing you can do is aim for a hopeful ending.”I ended the movie to make sure my family and friends were always by my side. [người mắc chứng nghiện ngập].”
Ultimately, Nishino hopes that those who watch the film will have the same revelations he did about the nature of addiction.”I think there are a lot of people who don't know about addiction—or how to treat people who are addicted. I didn't even know about it at first, so I hope Bottle George will give people something to think about.”
Bottle George will make its US debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 27, 2024.