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Daniel Day-Lewis, like Hayao Miyazaki, is a genius coming out of retirement. But their reasons for returning couldn't be more different

Daniel Day-Lewis pulls a Hayao Miyazaki to help a debut director that just happens to be his son. Miyazaki, however, was infamously critical of his son Goro's film debut

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Additional contributions by Trent Cannon

Published on Wed Oct 02 2024

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They're two once-in-a-generation geniuses in the annals of filmmaking, and now, both Hayao Miyazaki and Daniel Day-Lewis can claim the mantle of "ex-retiree." Yes, ol' DDL is hopping out of retirement for work in front of a camera again, specifically to work with his son Ronan on the film they co-wrote, Anemone (Variety had the story on October 1). And it is here that Day Lewis's parallel with Miyazaki in spectacular fashion - for the beloved Studio Ghibli animator, working with his son is a historied no-go.

In case you don't know him, Goro Miyazaki is the son of Hayao and fellow animator Akemi Ōta. According to Goro's biography, his mother instructed him not to follow in his father's footsteps, and as a mostly absentee father, Hayao never supported Goro in much of anything, much less a career in animation. But that didn't stop Goro from taking on the role of director for Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea, the 2006 feature based on novels by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Unfortunately, Goro did not receive the support for his efforts that Ronan Day-Lewis currently enjoys.

According to The Guardian, Hayao walked out of his first viewing of Tales from Earthsea after one hour. It was for a cigarette break, so he may have returned, but, by that point, the famous animator said he "felt like I’d been in there three hours." Hayao would praise his son's next feature directorial effort, Earwig and the Witch, an interview that popped up on SoraNews24, but with some pretty striking caveats. Hayao said that, in the planning stages of Earwig, he "hadn’t been thinking of Goro at all," and that "It's good that he made one movie. With that, he should stop." Still, his repeated insistence that Earwig "properly conveys the energy of the original work," and that Goro "hung on to his determination to make the movie" makes it seem that the animator's appreciation for his son's work has improved at least a little.

All that to say; Hayao Miyazaki's multiple comebacks out of retirement were never to help out his son. If anything, it's more likely that Miyazaki feels he has no successor to the artistry he brought to the world, a sentiment that Daniel Day-Lewis clearly does not share.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.