At 83, filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki earns historic Oscar for ‘The Boy and the Heron’

LOS ANGELES – Hayao Miyazaki, the mythical Japanese filmmaker whose anime classics have enchanted lovers round the global for many years, has gained his 2nd occupation Oscar.

At 83, Miyazaki gained for helming the easiest animated movie, “The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited myth from the director of “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.”

He is the oldest director ever nominated for the class and the oldest winner via greater than twenty years — including to a big year in Hollywood for older filmmakers. He was once no longer provide at the awards.

Hailed as one of the best films of 2023, “The Boy and The Heron” beat its best rival in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” in addition to “Elemental,”“Nimona,” and “Robot Dreams.”

Sunday’s win for Miyazaki and manufacturer Toshio Suzuki caps off a forged awards season run for the movie, which gained the best honor for an animated function at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA Film Awards.

It was once Miyazaki’s fourth Oscar nomination for easiest animated function — tying with Pixar’s Pete Docter for the maximum nods in that class. Miyazaki gained his first Oscar in 2003 for “Spirited Away.”

Miyazaki began work on “The Boy and the Heron” no longer lengthy after saying in 2013 that he intended to retire from movie — once more.

In magazine excerpts from round that point launched in the movie’s press notes, Miyazaki writes: “There’s nothing more pathetic than telling the world you’ll retire because of your age, then making yet another comeback.

“Doesn’t an elderly person deluding themself that they’re still capable, despite their geriatric forgetfulness, prove that they’re past their best?” he provides. “You bet it does.”

Miyazaki labored thru the ones issues, and the ensuing movie earned him no longer simplest his 2nd Oscar win on Sunday evening, however his first No. 1 feature at the North American field place of work.

“The Boy and the Heron” follows a boy named Mahito Maki who moves to the countryside after his mother’s death. There, he is lured by a mysterious heron into a secluded tower, a portal that transports him to a fantastical realm amid his grief.

The film was a decade in the making. In the age of CGI and artificial intelligence, Miyazaki has stuck to the lengthy process of hand-drawing his animations.

When he received an honorary Oscar in 2014 celebrating his artistry and storytelling, he expressed gratitude for the art of drawing.

“My wife tells me that I’m a very lucky man,” Miyazaki said in his acceptance speech through a translator. “And I think I’ve been lucky because I’ve been able to participate in the last era when we can make films with paper, pencil and film.”

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