Dig the "Pop goes Japanese culture" article in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Looks like they interviewed the rouges gallery of villains for it, including me.
Comments
The article sounds a bit as if it could have been written two, five, or ten years ago, with certain modifications (perhaps it was, and gets re-released at intervals with certain updates). Also, it talks about "middle America" but then seems to think The New York Times, the New Yorker, and NPR are part of it--actually, this culture has probably been better known among middle America before hoity-toity media such as those got around to it. But maybe I'm just jealous, because I'm 34 yet not boyish.
Well, although we often focus on Disney's home video or theatrical releases of Ghibli, KIKI has gotten great exposure through repeated airings on The Disney Channel (at least a dozen times in the last few years). The positive feedback from this "core audience" might have prompted the idea. As for the staff of the live-action version, I would say they're faced with a bit of a challenge. Miyazaki is not my I AM THAT I AM, but I can't see many directors simply watching one of his films and exclaiming, "Well, shit--I could do as good a movie as THAT!"
The article sounds a bit as if it could have been written two, five, or ten years ago, with certain modifications (perhaps it was, and gets re-released at intervals with certain updates). Also, it talks about "middle America" but then seems to think The New York Times, the New Yorker, and NPR are part of it--actually, this culture has probably been better known among middle America before hoity-toity media such as those got around to it. But maybe I'm just jealous, because I'm 34 yet not boyish.
Posted by: Carl Horn | February 06, 2005 at 08:56 PM
Carl: Any thoughts on Kiki being made into a live-action flick by Disney?
Posted by: Daniel Zelter | February 07, 2005 at 12:23 AM
Well, although we often focus on Disney's home video or theatrical releases of Ghibli, KIKI has gotten great exposure through repeated airings on The Disney Channel (at least a dozen times in the last few years). The positive feedback from this "core audience" might have prompted the idea. As for the staff of the live-action version, I would say they're faced with a bit of a challenge. Miyazaki is not my I AM THAT I AM, but I can't see many directors simply watching one of his films and exclaiming, "Well, shit--I could do as good a movie as THAT!"
Posted by: Carl Horn | February 07, 2005 at 10:45 AM