VARIOUS: U.S. PREMIER OF THE FILM "PRINCESS MONONOKE"

Record ID: 388691

  • Title: VARIOUS: U.S. PREMIER OF THE FILM "PRINCESS MONONOKE"
  • Date: 31st October 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 17, 1999) (RTV) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BILLY CRUDUP SAYING "They, really, really, really preserved an enormous amount of the characterizations and the poetry in the characterizations that is so precious, while informing an uninformed audience. There's this one moment where the wise woman of the village is telling Ashitaka tha
  • Embargoed: 15th November 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1CKY56QSC9A1KHF0E5QMYJWF
  • Story Text: Nearly two years after taking Japan by storm,"Princess Mononoke," an animated tale of man versus nature in feudal Japan, premiered in the United States on Wednesday (October 20), fueled by a new American script and the voices of some of Hollywood's hottest actors.
    Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, Gillian Anderson, Minnie Driver and Billy Bob Thornton stepped away from the cameras and into the soundbooth to lend their voices to the American adaption of Japan's beloved
    "Princess Mononoke".
    From acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, the film garnered Japan's version of the Academy Award for best picture in 1998 and became only the second movie ever to gross more than $150 million (usd) in that country.
    Set in feudal Japan during the age of samurais' and ancient gods, "Princess Mononoke" takes a harsh look at the conflict between progress and nature in a time before man had over-run the world.
    Targetting an audience of older children and adults, Miyazaki introduces the world to Iron Town, a settlement on the edge of civilisation and in the early stages of industrialism.With stark realism uncommon to "cartoons" in America, the people of Iron Town, led by Lady Eboshi and Jigothe Monk, declare war on the forests just beyond their border and all of its inhabitants.As Lady Eboshi puts it, "When the forest has been cleared and the wolves wiped out, this place will be the richest land in the world." Minnie Driver, who provides Lady Eboshi's voice in the film also attempted to provide a rationalisation for her actions."The people are what matter and the fact that she's destroying the environment...she is protecting what she has created in order to save the people who she loves."
    Claire Danes is the voice of San, a young woman raised by the wolf goddess Moro, Gillian Anderson, who has dedicated herself to stopping Eboshi and the encroachment of the forest while trying to come to terms with her own human nature.
    Attempting to find a balance between the two worlds is Ashitaka, voiced by Billy Crudup.Ashitaka, the warrior prince driven from his village by an ancient curse, is torn between the draw of San's passion for the natural order and Eboshi's need to provide for her people.For his part, Crudup understands his character's ambivalence."There are no easy answers, there never are in violence, there are always several stories to be told and I think that's all we can do."
    While there is a high degree of violence in the film, the director put his targeted audience as "anyone older than eleven," a view debated by the actors providing the voices.
    "Kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for and I think even really young ones are going to get something on a gut level from this," Thornton told Reuters.Crudup was a bit more cautious."I don't think this is a film for kids under 13, but it's an exceptional time for kids over 13."
    "Princess Mononoke" took over three years to make, and some 144,000 hand drawn cels and computer-generated images.
    Approximately ten percent of "Princess Mononoke" was computer-generated.
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