M. Night Fans » Spirited Away

iF MAGAZINE: What was the plan with this film and what were you trying to achieve, to re-invent yourself?

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: I have always wanted to develop a long mythology based franchise like THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I always thought about it, but I had, until now, never found a good one where I could also add a little bit of my personal vision. I really wanted to find a franchise where my accent could be complementary to the piece. So this was the best thing that could have happened is that I didn’t have a real agenda, but I was on the look for it and waited for the perfect situation.

I was offered other franchises, but passed. And then this one came from my own family – it was suggested by my children who loved the TV animated series. When I saw the cartoon I thought it was so well thought out in term of mythology. It had Buddhism, and martial Arts, and CGI [and it was] character based. And so I thought we could do a great job by using ILM and do something with lots of emotions and texture. I knew we could do something that wasn’t going to be just a great treat for the eyes, but also for the mind and the soul. This is my approach when it comes to getting into this type of material, to approach it through the characters and keep it grounded. It has also deeper issues at its core, it talks about Genocide and Balance, and the connection to the Planet. And you know from my other movies that I’m interested with these subject matters — it’s an important movie, not just a blockbuster summer movie.

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