Between co-founding Studio Ghibli and directing 11 films (including classics such as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Castle In The Sky), Hayao Miyazaki has established himself as a master filmmaker, and someone who has brought joy to audiences around the world. Now he’s bringing a slightly more melancholy feeling, as he’s announced his retirement.
In fact, the famously reclusive director didn’t announce it directly, leaving it to Studio Ghibli head Koji Hoshino at the Venice Film Festival where Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises has been screening.
Hoshino made a simple statement – “Miyazaki has decided that **Kaze Tachinu **(The Wind Rises) will be his last film, and he will now retire” – to the world’s press, with word that the 72-year-old director himself will be addressing the matter in Tokyo soon. Though his pace had slowed somewhat in the last decade, Miyazki denied an intention to retire recently, but has clearly had a change of heart.
Hopefully he’ll still be involved in Ghibli’s other projects, overseeing and possibly writing scripts (as with Arrietty, which he scripted and oversaw while leaving the directing to Hiromasa Yonebayashi), but if he’s really decided to stop filmmaking, he leaves a fine legacy and a studio capable of producing true movie magic.
There’s no word on a UK release date for The Wind Rises yet, but the trailer is below.