Following on from his Academy Award Nomination for his previous film MIRAI, Mamoru Hosoda brings us a truly unique and special take on Beauty and the Beast in his latest masterpiece, BELLE. We here at STARBURST had the special privilege of sitting down with Hosoda-san to discuss the film, the importance of strong female characters and key selling points of great music in film.
STARBURST: A massive congratulations on the film. It’s a stunning story and is beautifully told. You truly deserve all the recognition that you are receiving.
MAMORU HOSODA: Thank you so much. That truly means the world to me that people are reacting this way.
You draw a lot of inspiration from the story of Beauty and the Beast in this film whilst blending it with a very relatable and emotional human narrative. When did the idea for this begin?
The idea really came about when I started wondering what would happen if I set that classic story in the online world – that was about 3 years ago. So, I’d always wanted to do my version of that story ever since I started in the industry 30 years ago, but I never knew quite how I’d do it until the online idea came to me a few years back.
The lead character Suzu is such an interesting protagonist. How important was it to have a lead that was flawed with infinite potential in order to connect with audiences?
I’ve always thought that society is unfair. With Suzu for example, she is in the corner of her classroom at high school and if you just saw her without knowing her, you may think that she was a serious, gloomy girl maybe, but inside she’s so different – people are quick to judge based on appearance. But in this online world, this is where you get to see another version of her, what’s hidden inside and it’s not until you get to that world that it reveals itself – she’s no longer that girl in the corner and I wanted to show in the film that there are a lot of people like that.
How important to you are great female characters in Anime?
The protagonists in films generally must overcome difficulties so you need a strong character in order for them to make it to the end of the film. Women’s rights are very much a big topic right now, but I’ve always preferred a strong female character and I’ve always believed that women are strong, so I think it’s normal to have independent female characters in film. I think that the way that society has treated women as being weaker or unjustly condescended, even today, is something we’re still facing so my characters don’t give up. I think that a lot of people still have a feudal mindset towards female characters. Society and values need to change and when it’s the norm to have strong female protagonists then we will have achieved equality.
Obviously, BELLE was made during a unique time in the world. How was it as a creative, pulling together with people from all over the world to bring your vision to life?
The film was obviously made during the pandemic, all the design was done too but because of the situation we were in, it was normal for remote meetings so it was easy to meet with artists from all over – Jin-Kim in LA for example. I think if it wasn’t for this situation, the resulting film may have been very different too. The restrictions somehow tallied quite nicely with the subject matter of the film – it gives it that real timely feeling.
The real world is hand-drawn animation, and the world of “U” is 3D computer animation – was that always the plan from the beginning in order to differentiate the two worlds?
That was always the plan, yes. I don’t know of any other films in Japan or the US that have done this before and split hand-drawn and CG along conceptual lines – in animation anyway. The use of the different techniques definitely works with the content.
The music in this film is absolutely spellbinding – how was the creative process of getting an important thing like music right as it is such an integral part of the film?
I always wanted music to be at the centre of the film – initially I wanted to make it a musical as Disney’s version is – but I didn’t know how to write a musical [laughs]. In the US, animation is almost instantly a musical – it’s like breathing for them. For Japanese people, it’s very difficult to do that, incorporating music. In the end, this is how we managed to do it and it is so gratifying to hear everyone say how much they loved the music. The last song in particular was so important.
Your previous film MIRAI told a fantastical story through the eyes of a child that a lot of us can relate to in our past. Would you say that BELLE is an important story for our future as technology and our reliance on it evolves?
I think you’re right; I think the film shows that we all live in the real world and online world simultaneously. I can’t think of many other films that show it that way. Usually, the internet is shown as a fantasy world with a conflict between that and the real world – but there isn’t in this. We need to be able to live in both at the same time. People often say to me that the internet is a bad place, but I don’t think that to be entirely true – so I tried to show the internet in a more positive light and that both worlds can work in harmony because we need to learn to live in both as time moves on.
BELLE is released in UK cinemas on Friday February 4th 2022. Tickets can be found here. Thanks to Anime Limited and Fetch Publicity for the opportunity to speak to Mamoru Hosoda.
