Genius recluse, uber-perfectionist, lapsed Marxist, Luddite - like the legendary directors of Hollywood's golden age, Hayao Miyazaki's intimidating reputation is almost as famous as his spellbinding movies. Japan's animation king is also known for shunning interviews.
So it's remarkable to find him sitting opposite us in Studio Ghibli, the Tokyo animation house he co-founded in 1985, reluctantly bracing himself for the media onslaught that now accompanies each of his new projects. Once a well-kept secret, Miyazaki's films are increasingly greeted with the hoopla reserved for major Disney releases. Spirited Away, his Oscar-winning 2001 masterpiece, grossed more in his native country than Titanic and elevated his name to the pantheon of global cinema greats.
Time magazine has since voted him one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years. Anticipation is high for his latest, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which has generated US$160million at the box office and already seen by 12million people in Japan since the summer. It is now set for release across Asia, then the US and Europe. The story of a fish that longs to become human, Miyazaki's 10th movie is another chapter in his lifelong struggle to interpret the world of children.
He says Studio Ghibli has recently built a creche for its staff - and he spends a lot of his time there. 'I look at them and try to see things as they do,' he says. 'If I can do that, I can create universal appeal.' The relationship is two-way, he says. 'We get encouragement and strength from watching children. I consider it a blessing to be able to do that, and to make movies in this chaotic, testing world,' he says.
He says adults face a choice between love and money. 'A five-year-old understands that in a way an adult obsessed with money and share prices cannot. I make movies that can be understood by that five-year-old and to bring out that purity of heart.'
A stiff, avuncular presence in his tweed suit and maths teacher's glasses, Miyazaki is clearly uneasy dealing with the media circus. The 67-year-old's movies are paeans to the natural world and coded warnings about its perilous state; in a recent interview he fondly speculated on a natural disaster that would return the planet to its pristine state.
