wes anderson he has spoken many times in the past about his influences and how directors like Hal Ashby and Satyajit Ray have been vital in developing his style. Although he tends to give less hype, the director has revealed that he enjoys anime very much and that certain films have been very important for his own work.
counting on the classics
Among his favourites, Wes Anderson includes ‘Princess Mononoke’, ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Porco Rosso’ and ‘Yesterday’s Memories’. Not everything is Ghibli on the list, and the director also includes as main anime ‘Akira’, the series ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ and also the movie ‘The End of Evangelion’.
When talking about ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, many things are understood about why he likes Studio Ghibli and his daily lifed, with which we can also see how the films of the Japanese studio have influenced the rhythms of their stories.
“There’s a giant monster and sooty pixies, but two-thirds of the movie is about cleaning the house, and hanging around the property, meeting the neighbors, taking a bath…and there’s a lot of nature,” the director explained. “It has a different kind of rhythm and emphasis than what you find in American movies.”
For now Wes Anderson has already launched into directing animation with ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ and ‘Isle of Dogs’, which is actually set in Japan’. For now, he has stayed in the field of stop-motion, but knowing that he is a fan of anime, it will be necessary to see if he decides to launch himself at some point and dares to try his luck with a film of this style.