How do you get across the terrifying energy of an earthquake as it tears a city in two?
If youre as creative as Hayao Miyazaki, you use human voices rather than traditional sound effects.
The person responsible for the overseas releases of Studio Ghiblis output is its international division chief, Jeff Wexler.
Wexlers approach to translation, subtitling and dubbing is as diligent as youd expect.
Ad content continues below
Congratulations onThe Wind Rises,first of all.
Its a magnificent film.
Did you get a chance to see the English subbed and dubs?
I did, yes.
It gets better each time I see it.
Is it a different experience seeing the subtitled version from the dubbed?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great casting for the lead.
See, Im going to interview you for a minute this is great.
Tell me what you thought of them, because I produced both the dubbed and the subbed versions.
Not many people tell me what they think of them.
Its interesting, because I generally gravitate towards subtitles.
Not just because of whats said, but the way its said.
But in this, I thought the tone of it was lovely.
Its a very quiet, restrained film even by Miyazakis standards, and the voice casting was just right.
Oh good, Im glad to hear that.
I really want to bring the original film to a non-Japanese-speaking audience as closely as possible.
It did bring lots of challenges that were actually a lot of fun I will say that.
I really mean that seriously.
The film is not in Dolby 5.1.
Its a single track of sound.
And that presented a small space for dialogue, sound effects and music.
He didnt have a lot of aural space to do it in.
Yeah, those are fantastic.
If you know it, its fun to look for.
How do you know what that sounds like?
So theres a real warmth to the sounds.
Those were all challenging to do.
The sounds were all done by one fellow, our sound designer, Koji Kasamatsu.
Miyazaki-san himself wanted to do it, but he had to finish the film.
Miyazaki-san very much wanted to have fewer sounds and voices in the film.
Because if there arent words, they have to fill them in.
Were going to do what Miyazaki-san said.
And Id say, I know it is.
Ill give you another example.
Theres a scene in a hotel restaurant, and it starts to rain outside.
A young fellow runs into the background to talk to some people.
He brushes off the rain and his mouth is moving, but we dont hear anything.
Then we have the unusual challenges of Japanese language and English language not matching up.
When Im unsure, I go back to the original film and go with that.
I rarely, rarely change anything.
I make a run at avoid explanation.
We just let the film be what it is in Japanese as much as possible.
So how early do you start organising the English dub?
Quite early in the production?
But I was here just as The Wind Rises was entering full production.
So we keep an eye on the production, were reading the directors notes, read the storyboards.
Well, I know Im talking toDen Of Geek,so Im giving youDen Of Geek-level stuff here!
[Laughs]
So that gives us time to go back to the director and ask questions.
What does this mean?
So by now were getting close to the time where the films almost ready for release.
From the final dialogue we create our subtitles, which are first created to sell the film.
We do one sweeping, final set of subtitles.
This is all happening just before the film opens in Japan.
At that point, were already thinking about the characters and how to cast them.
We have whats called a dubbing guide, because we dub in many languages.
It has the rules for the dub.
The film opened in July, which many of our films have.
but as you could tell, it starts pretty early.
We dont wait until were done.
The casting is tricky.
The casting actually happens, for me, terrifyingly close to recording time.
Sometimes we only have them in the studio for a few hours.
So we have a go at adapt to them as much as possible.
But once we get the actors into the studio, they really enjoy this process.
Its a pleasure for me to watch how much fun they all have.
Some of them come in dressed quite glamorously, others come in wearing t-shirt and jeans.
All of them just have a ball.
They know our films, theyre quite happy, usually.
I usually turn to the director and say, Wait.
Here it comes… there it is.
Theyre not made for a global audience, they just happen to play well outside Japan.
Do you think thats something thats in danger of disappearing without Studio Ghibli?
Do they want to make something that challenges the audience or make good, hearty entertainment?
There should be room for all those things.
I dont think thats in danger of disappearing.
I think what is in danger of disappearing is hand-drawn, hand-painted animation.
So I dont think weve seen the end of films that are made with integrity.
Could you talk a little bit about how you came to work for Studio Ghibli?
I am an American but Ive lived in Japan for years.
Im a lawyer by training.
And he had suggestions of companies I might talk to, and I was digging around.
Its certainly not like anywhere Ive ever worked.
Like a college or university club.
Theyre incredibly passionate about one thing.
The other clubs are passionate about different things.
But its also very much an artistic salon.
I think its quite hard to find someone whos willing to jump into that.
I didnt answer an ad in the paper!
[Laughs]
What was the culture of the studio like while The Wind Rises was being made?
What was the atmosphere like?
Well, lets see.
Sometimes in our history we dont have a film.
In addition, there were some documentaries being made about us.
Hes famous for not writing the end until, well, the end!
[Laughs]
I didnt know that!
Thats a little different than some companies.
Theres excitement for every film, but there was a lot of excitement for this one.
We knew it was going to be different than past films.
All the characters are human, for example.
And we knew it was going to be incredibly beautiful.
So there was a lot of enthusiasm, but there was also a lot going on.
Im not over in the creative team with pencil to paper, but were doing lots of things.
We have exhibitions that are overseas, we have an events team.
So theres a lot going on.
There was a tremendous amount of anticipation forThe Wind Rises.
So while you were making it, was there an awareness that Miyazaki-san was going to retire?
I get asked this question a lot.
I dont think it was any more or less than it probably had been for a while.
Because he always seemed to have so many projects going on that he was talking about.
He was passionately curating exhibitions at the Ghibli Museum, in addition to the current exhibition.
We have an annual exhibition here in Tokyo, and he was getting involved in that.
But there certainly wasnt anything in the air that said, This was it.
There wasnt a big sign on the wall.
There was a passion to finish the film and see where we are.
So how did working onThe Wind Risescompare withPrincess Kaguya?
The UK date I dont have to hand, but Studio Canal will be handling that in the UK.
Some things were easier, in that we didnt have the issue with no voices in the mouths.
It didnt have as many esoteric Japanese language customs issues, because it was more of a fairytale.
So that was somewhat easier.
It was very, very tricky.
So it had its own challenges, but it was a wonderful story, really interesting characters.
I think we put a little bit more lightness in some of the scenes.
But both films are tremendously beautiful.
I havent seen it yet, but Im very much looking forward to it.
I hope we have this call about that one next!
TheresWhen Marnie Was Thereas well, isnt there?
Yes,When Marnie Was Thereis complete, and its in cinemas here.
This one was interesting, because it required the rights to a British book, as you may know.
So I was familiar with the story very early on when we acquired those rights.
There have been rumours about the future of Studio Ghibli.
But what do things look like from your perspective?
Thats something I cant discuss too much.
So theres talent there.
Jeff Wexler, thank you very much.
The Wind Risesis out on DVD and Blu-ray on the 29th September in the UK.
