Bill Desowitz previews some of the top movies that VFXWorld will be covering this year.
Madhouse Studios has long been one of the legendary names in Japanese animation, but this last year has raised their profile considerably in Europe: both Satoshi Kon's Paprika and Mamoru Hosada's Girl Who Leapt Through Time have been hailed as mature works of art, not just anime kids' stuff. Much of the credit goes to producer and studio head Masao Maruyama, who has built Madhouse by scouting young talent while holding on to such veterans as Toshio Hirata, who accompanied him to this year's Future Film Festival and created the festival's opening video.
"I have never been 100% happy with a film," Maruyama sighs, describing how his studio works. "The imperfections become the things to do differently on the next project."
Hirata drew a diagram of how Madhouse works, with each director shepherding his own projects along under Maruyama's direction.
"Every director is different," Hirata elaborates, noting that he is called in to help on various projects. "Satsoshi Kon oversees every part of his project. He thinks of everything, like Chaplin. I don't know how do introduce myself into the team in these cases." He adds that most of the other directors will give him some creative latitude.
Is Maruyama a hands-on producer? Director and producer look at each other, and Hirata concedes the floor to Maruyama. "I listen to what the director tells me about what he wants to do with the film," he asserts. "If the director convinces me, I pretty much let him be, right through to the end." There is no time to intervene, because they are out of time and budget by the end of most productions.
Are there ever times when a work is overdue or over budget? "Sometimes we go over budget." Maruyama allows himself a smile. "But I don't tolerate that the deadlines are not reached. I will intervene increasing the budget, but I want the times maintained. So if we have 50 people working one month before the end of a project, they become 100. Of course, the quality goes down, so the director and the producer must work hard to integrate these people. [If] there are 100 shots remaining, we narrow it down so they become 80. The director has to re-think the final scenes. He will want to make it more beautiful, I have to make sure that the story remains comprehensible."
So he sees the producer's role as the guardian of the story? "Yes," Maruyama nods, "I think that's fair to say."
Hirata adds that his main concern these days is not to become completely obsolete in this new wave of young talent at the studio. "I don't even have a squad working with me," he complains ironically. "You will again," Maruyama smiles. "We old guys have to stick together."
