Hayao Miyazaki Thanked America for 1 Movie That Starred Both John Krasinski and Emily Blunt

Hayao Miyazaki creates movies for children, and most Studio Ghibli productions are whimsical creations targeted toward a younger audience. These films often have dark undertones that only adults can understand. But only a handful of these films are actually created for adults.

One such Ghibli movie is The Wind Rises, a historical drama that focuses on the career of an aeronautical engineer during the World War II era. Emily Blunt and John Karinski voiced two major characters in the film, Nahoko Satomi and Kiro Hinjo.

Hayao Miyazaki Thanked the American Audience for the Positive Reception of The Wind Rises

The protagonist of The Wind Rises is a Japanese aeronautical engineer, Jiro Horikoshi. The character is inspired by an actual engineer by the same name who designed the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and several other Japanese fighter aircraft designs that were used during World War II. The film shows a fictionalized account of Horikoshi’s life from his time at university to the first test flight of the Mitsubishi Ka-14.

With Japan and the USA’s rocky history during World War II, Hayao Miyazaki did not expect The Wind Rises to be perceived in a positive light. He knew it would raise a controversy, and some people might even be against a protagonist who engineers fighter planes for wars. However, the USA audience broke his expectations and received the movie with open arms. In an interview, the director claimed:

While The Wind Rises does not focus on war itself but the life of Jiro Horikoshi, one can’t help but focus on the background of Japan preparing itself for war. In fact, the movie also portrayed Horikoshi regretting that his aircraft designs were used in war after Japan lost World War II.

Hayao Miyazaki Felt He was Digging a Tomb for Studio Ghibli with The Wind Rises

The original idea for The Wind Rises came from a manga Hayao Miyazaki had drawn as a hobby. In the manga, all the characters, the men, had the face of a boar or pig (which is oddly reminiscent of Porco Rosso). When the producer suggested making it into a film, Miyazaki denied the proposal outright. But as discussions continued, he found out that they could actually create The Wind Rises.

Miyazaki’s primary worry was that kids would not be the target audience if the concept were animated. There are frequent mentions of war and the protagonist designs fighter aircraft, a theme which can’t really be marketed to kids. But his worries were put to rest by one of the studio’s members who explained that even if the kids don’t understand the movie when they watch it, they will eventually grow into adults who will realize what The Wind Rises is about.

Miyazaki’s grave sense of foreboding was proved wrong when the film grossed around $113 million at the Japanese box office and became the highest-grossing domestic film in 2013.

The Wind Rises movie is available to stream on Max.