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Interview: Steve Alpert, The Westerner at Ghibli




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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 483
Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:30 pm Reply with quote
The claim about Castle in the Sky's rescore being "vetoed" by Miyazaki doesn't make sense. It contradicts what we have heard. Look at this interview.

http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Category:Joe_Hisaishi

It clearly shows that Miyazaki did indeed approve the rescore, AND was involved with it. Something is lost in the translation of this book.


Last edited by TurnerJ on Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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andyos
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 27 Oct 2008
Posts: 269
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:58 pm Reply with quote
As the interviewer, I'm as puzzled as you are. (Re Alpert's comment that it was something that happened after he retired, Alpert retired from Ghibli around 2011, long after Disney's rescored Castle dub was released.)

To clarify something; in Alpert's account in his book, he says that Miyazaki assented to Hisaishi creating an extended score for Disney, because Miyazaki was curious how it would turned out. But on Alpert's account, Miyazaki reviewed the new soundtrack when it was completed, and then vetoed it.

Maybe it shows that Steins;Gate is real, and we're listening to a dub from an alternate worldline? Very Happy
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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 483
Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:08 pm Reply with quote
That just doesn't make sense. It goes against with what Mr. Hisaishi has said. He said that Miyazaki approved the new score. And in an article that I cannot cite because it doesn't seem to be around anymore, someone at Ain't-It-Cool-News interviewed Miyazaki and he said that he liked the new score very much. So something is wrong here.

The rescore got issued on CD in Japan in 2002, just a year before the dub was released on video in America. Only time I remember the rescore being omitted was in 2010 when they reissued the film to appease purists who disliked the new score, including some who claimed that Miyazaki himself detested it (which again, feels very contradictory to the sources we've heard). But the fact that it's now available as a choice for viewers shows that the claims about him disliking it don't seem accurate at all.


Last edited by TurnerJ on Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Human memory is all too fallible. Unless some is religiously making diary entries, there will inevitably be erroneous recollections.
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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
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Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:13 pm Reply with quote
Something about Mr Alpert's claim feels off to me. Sources from back then indicated that Miyazaki wasn't upset with the new score or the dub in any way. The fact that he OKed the new score contradicts that.
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#910179



Joined: 17 Jun 2020
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:19 pm Reply with quote
I don't really understand what Steve meant when he said ''My bad. Sometimes I'm a little too fond of my private jokes.''. Does that mean he joked about Mr. Tokuma “fond memories of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere''?

I can't help but find it kinda weird if Mr. Tokuma hold such views considering that he was a close friend of Miyazaki, which arguably leans to the left on the political spectrum, based on the open political statements he made. I know Steve said Tokuma was a complicated man, but if what he heard is true and that he was indeed an anti-war liberal in WW2 I have hard time imagining that would go hand to hand with those views. Plus I find it difficult to imagine someone with those views working together with Suzuki or Miyazaki who are arguably very left leaning.
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Blackiris_



Joined: 06 Sep 2013
Posts: 536
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 5:32 am Reply with quote
Thanks for the interview! Especially the part about the voice recording was amusing.
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Gilles Poitras



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 481
Location: Oakland California
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:23 am Reply with quote
"Ghibli sold its films to Disney"

You mean "Ghibli licensed its films to Disney"
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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:52 am Reply with quote
Yeah, licensed is the more accurate term.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:07 am Reply with quote
At the time, Miyazaki hadn’t done a film in 5 years or so. Princess Mononoke [1997] was coming out, and it may be hard to imagine now, but at the time Ghibli’s Japanese distribution partners were a little concerned.

They were saying, “It’s taking place in [medieval] Japan; nobody wants to see old samurai movies anymore. He’s got all these characters who are lepers, and people are going to find it offensive. There’s hands and arms being cut off.”

So Mr. Suzuki thought this would be a good time to get some publicity by getting the Disney deal.
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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
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Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:46 pm Reply with quote
Sorry, but I refuse to believe that claim. Miyazaki made the story he wanted to because he wanted to do it, pure and simple. I doubt it had anything to do with any sort of agenda.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 8:20 pm Reply with quote
TurnerJ wrote:

Sorry, but I refuse to believe that claim. Miyazaki made the story he wanted to because he wanted to do it, pure and simple. I doubt it had anything to do with any sort of agenda.


Which? Producer Suzuki's agenda? (His job is to get the films financed, by hook or by crook, as they say Laughing )
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