interview: Chiaki J Konaka

Screenwriter Chiaki J Konaka has worked on many Japanese series that are familiar to western audiences, including cult anime (Bubblegum Crisis), Saturday morning cartoons (Digimon) and live action (Ultraman Tiga), as well as writing feature films, notably Evil Dead Trap 2. Now, with the extraordinary Malice@Doll he ventures into CGI territory. Mr Konaka has his own website and, since his English is considerably better than my Japanese, I was able to interview him by e-mail in January 2003.


What was the original inspiration for the story of Malice@Doll?
"The idea came from imagining the world where Malice lives. Before writing the script, I had wanted to make this film using stop-motion animation like Czech film-makers such as Jiri Trnka or Jan Svankmajer.”

How did your script affect the character and creature designs; or how did the designs affect your writing?
"The writing of the script and designing of the characters proceeded in parallel. I gave inspiration to the designers and they in return inspired me.”

How closely did you work with the director Mr Motonaga and the designers Mr Nishioka and Mr Moriki?
"I had worked with Mr Motonaga and Mr Nishioka before Malice, on Devilman Lady, so we knew what we could create by our chemistry.”

Why was the 'camera' kept stationary in every shot in the film?
"That was what Mr Motonaga wanted. He doesn't like typical CGI images.”

Why was Malice animated traditionally, rather than by computer, when she became a spirit at the end?
"That was not only the spirit Malice; she was variously animated both by computer and human animators. Mr Motonaga is an anime director, not a specialist in CGI. He made the film as he wanted to see it.”

What are the literary or cinematic influences on this story? Is it influenced by Alice in Wonderland? Or by the novels of Philip K Dick?
"As I said, I quoted the stop-motion animation films of Trnka, Svankmajer et al. But the frame of the story, yes, is Alice in Wonderland. And you are correct in surmising that Philip K Dick is one of my favorite writers.”

How long did it take to make the film?
"Almost a whole year.”

How was the film distributed in Japan? Did audiences like the film? What did critics and reviewers say about the film?
"Malice was released on video in Japan. I can't honestly say it was successful at a commercial level, but people who like cutting edge films loved it.”

When writing the script, did you treat the story as anime or live action or something different?
"I wrote this as grand guignol.”

What is the significance of the ghost of the little girl?
"Whatever she signifies or symbolises, that is something that belongs to the audience and is for the audiences to decide.”

Why does Malice stay beautiful when she becomes human, but the other dolls become monsters?
"Malice was the carrier of the ‘infection’. This story can be grasped as a variation of the traditional vampire story.”

Perhaps I am seeing something which is not there, but: in this film, there is a sort of disease (life) which makes people suffer and die, and it is spread by love (kissing) - is this an allegory for AIDS?
"In anything that I write, I don't want explain too much about the story. I just want the audience to see and feel things that are influenced by their own standpoint. But in this case, I have to say no, it’s not an AIDS allegory. If I dealt with AIDS in my fiction, I would do it a different way.”

Do you have any plans to work again with Mr Motonaga, Mr Nishioka or Mr Moriki?
"Unfortunately not this time.”

What is the connection between the film Malice@Doll and the dolls which you make?
"Making actual dolls is a completely different matter from writing. But this film was an interesting experience which led me to think about what a doll actually is.”

What projects are you writing now?
"I have just finished writing the second season of The Big-O. I am now working for some new animation series, and I will write a long horror novel this year.”

Konaka-san, domo arigato gozaimasu.

website: www.konaka.com

interview originally posted before November 2004

interview: Shusuke Kaneko

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Shusuke Kaneko, director of the 1990s Gamera trilogy, at G-Fest 1999, a Godzilla convention in Los Angeles. His other films include Pyrokinesis, the 2001 Godzilla movie GMK: All Monsters Attack and one third of the 1993 horror anthology Necronomicon. Years later, I have unfortunately lost any record of who translated for me during this interview although I'm sure that Norman England had a hand in arranging it.


How did you get the job of directing Gamera: Guardian of the Universe?
“In 1992 I had an offer from Daiei to direct this film. I wanted to be a kaiju director, not necessarily for Daiei. I told Toho that I wanted to direct a Godzilla film, so everybody knew that I wanted to direct a kaiju movie. I thought it might help me in that ambition to direct a Gamera movie.”

What did you want to put into a Gamera film that had not been seen in the 1960s Gamera films?
“The original Gamera films were for children but I wasn’t keen on them for that reason. So I wanted to make a Gamera movie for adults, a Gamera movie that everyone can watch.”

Was this film intended as the first part of a series, or was it made as a stand-alone film?
“I thought this was just one film when I was making it, but on the day of the premiere, the President of Daiei came to me and said, ‘Please continue’.”

How did the Japanese film critics respond to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe?
“They were very, very happy. We had a great response. Before making Gamera, I did not have a great reputation as a director, but with Gamera there was no problem with the critics - everyone said it was great. But with Gamera 2 the critics were divided - some said it was good, some said it was not good. G3 was the same.”

Why did you choose to bring back Gaos for the first film?
“I picked Gaos because I thought that Gamera - just one kaiju - was not enough to attract the audience on his own.”

How well have the three Gamera films sold outside of Japan?
“I really don’t know because those decisions are always made by Daiei. According to Daiei, they have sold Gamera for one million Yen.”

How did you choose your cast for these films, and how pleased were you with their performances?
“I chose actors and actresses who can really make you believe that kaiju exist in this world. The cast acted very seriously, they really seemed to believe that kaiju exist - and that makes the audience believe that kaiju exist.”

How involved were you with the special effects sequences, or do you leave all of those to your special effects director?
“For the first and second films, Mr Higuchi the special effects director and I wrote the storyboards for the effects sequences together. I worked on the editing too. In the third film we used more computer effects so we created the storyboards actually on the computer.”

Which is more important in a film: the story about the people, or the fights between the monsters?
“The people are more important than kaiju, but without kaiju I cannot tell the story. I know that everyone really enjoys the fight scenes between the kaiju, but in order to make the audience care about the climactic battle, we need human drama beforehand.”

Were there things that you would have liked to put in these films but could not because of budget or some other factor?
“I wish that we could have made Gamera bigger. If some of the miniatures had been bigger they would have been more realistic.”

Why has the appearance of Gamera changed over the three films?
“At first I was asked to make Gamera a little cuter because the classic Gamera is always designed for children, with a big head. The face and shape of Gamera in G3 is the closest to the design of the face and body that we originally thought up. After the success of G1, Daiei gave us fewer restrictions so we could get closer to our idea of Gamera, but also in G3 the character and appearance of Gamera is more frightening so that makes the audience more scared of him. I have an excuse about Gamera’s changes because in the ancient age Gamera was sleeping, so day by day, year by year, he awakens. It’s a strange excuse!”

Many kaiju have no real explanation of where they came from. Why did you give Gamera a history connected with Atlantis and so on?
“I think that it’s difficult for people to believe that a giant creature like Gamera could fly. I needed some kind of story, based around ancient history, so that it is easier for people to believe in Gamera’s existence and his flying ability.”

So Gamera is biotechnology, not just a monster?
“Yes, biotechnology.”

If you had a big enough budget, would you make your monsters entirely in a computer, like the American Godzilla, or are suits and miniatures a better technique?
“I think that monsters are in some ways like human beings and this technique helps us to express their feelings, but on the other hand people can clearly see that there is somebody inside the costume and that sometimes makes me annoyed. I am not very happy about that aspect of the technique.”


Is Gamera 3 the last Gamera film? If there are more, will you be making them?
“If Daiei ask me to make another Gamera film as my next movie, then I can make it, I can continue the series. I think the reputation of these films and the money they make is not really huge so I do not think that Daiei has made any decision yet.”

If you don’t make another Gamera film, what would you like your next film to be?
“I have not started production yet but I am working on the storyboards. I am also working on the script for an American movie, Guyver 3. And someday I want to make an action movie about giant robots like Gundam!”

Arigato gozaimasu, Kaneko-san.

website: www.shusuke-kaneko.com
interview originally posted 20th May 2009