Entrevista a Kon
Interview with Satoshi Kon
Author: Bill Aguiar
Satoshi Kon is the well-known and respected director of the anime films Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2006), as well as the television series Paranoia Agent (2004).
Satoshi Kon attended a Smithsonian showing of Tokyo Godfathers and a preview of Paprika during the Washington DC Cherry Blossom festival. TOKYOPOP.com’s Bill Aguiar was able to interview Satoshi Kon and attend the discussions that were held after each movie.
Bill Aguiar: You were a manga-ka before you started working in anime. Have you ever been tempted to work one or two manga stories on the side as a return to your roots?
Satoshi Kon: It is not like I have given up completely on manga and if there is something I really wanted to create as a manga, of course I would. I have been working steadily in anime so it would not be possible to create manga on the side. To create manga takes a great effort and it is a personal work. That is a good point, in manga you can create what you want to create. But the opposite can also be said, that you can only do what you are capable of. In anime, the staff gets together and creates together. I am attracted by the idea of a team making the best work possible.
Bill Aguiar: In some of earlier interviews, you talked about how Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 was a major influence. He recently passed away and I was wondering if any other of his works were of interest to you?
Satoshi Kon: As far as Kurt Vonnegut is concerned, I only have read some of his works. The reason that I mention Slaughterhouse 5 as having the greatest influence, I saw the George Roy Hill-directed movie before I read the novel, and I was very much impressed how in the movie different places and times would be put together and expressed at the same time as we follow the protagonist. I have read the original novel itself, but it was the movie that left an impression on me and has had a huge influence on my work.
Bill Aguiar: As I look at your work, I am reminded of the novels of Philip K Dick. I was wondering if you were familiar with him.
Satoshi Kon: As far as Phillip K. Dick is concerned, I haven’t read all of his works but I have read several. He is one of the authors that I prefer to read and it is also similar to the Kurt Vonnegut situation in that before I read the novel I saw the movie Blade Runner. I am very interested in the nightmare image. That is the influence I have from him which I have been saying that quite a bit in my interviews. Last year at the Hawaii Film Festival that was held, and the small synopsis they had in the program with Paprika said is was like a collision of Hello Kitty and Phillip K. Dick. I felt that was correct.
Bill Aguiar: Your first movie was Perfect Blue, which was an adaptation, and Paprika is also an adaptation. From your interviews about Perfect Blue it seemed that you did a major rewrite of the novel for the movie while in Paprika you adhered more strongly to the original. What has changed in your process of adaptation between the two movies?
Satoshi Kon: Whether it is an original story written by a novelist or one that I write, I don’t really differentiate between them. If a story is interesting to me, I would like to make a movie of that story and of what attracted me to it in the first place. The change in approach that took place between Perfect Blue and Paprika was in the way that I accepted the work. In the case of Perfect Blue, I was chosen to direct it and I was told I could rewrite it in any manner. In the case of the Paprika, I chose the story to adapt so there was no need to rewrite it because if it needed rewrites I would not have chosen it.
Bill Aguiar: Do you have a wish list of movies you would like to make if you had the opportunity?
Satoshi Kon: I don’t especially have a wish list of stories. I have a consistent interest in manga and novels, and am always looking at them. In the case of Paprika, some time had elapsed and I thought that maybe we could give it a different approach. I have never really prepared a wish list per se, for two weeks from now I might come across something that I would have never imagined, a story written by someone else or one that I might want to write, because I have a new idea that I might find interesting.
Bill Aguiar: You are also well known for the TV series Paranoia Agent. According to interviews, Paranoia Agent was a way to get a lot of little ideas out at once. Do you think you have enough of those ideas left for another TV series?
Satoshi Kon: I would like to create another TV series. In the case of Paranoia Agent, after several movies I had there were some ideas that were not included into them. Over time those ideas accumulated, and there was no way I could part with them so I recycled them and turned them into Paranoia Agent. So after two or three more movies I will have enough ideas accumulated to do another TV series.
Bill Aguiar: So what is next for you?
Satoshi Kon: I am already starting scriptwriting the next movie. It will be an original story scripted by myself, and I have a feeling that two to two-and-half years from now you will see it. It will not be like Paprika in that it will not have a mature target audience but be one that children could enjoy. That said, it will not be a child-oriented film so it could be viewed with an adult’s perspective differently from how children will watch it.
(Here are some selected questions and answers from the discussion of Tokyo Godfathers.)
Q: Tokyo Godfathers seems rather realistic and comedic as compared to your other works. Are you planning to return to this type of movie?
A: I look at it as very serious film with real drama in that it is a real setting though some of the things that happen seem to be based on fantasy. I would like to move towards more fantasy-based work.
Q: What do you think of the popularity of your work outside of Japan in Europe and the US?
A: With my first movie Perfect Blue I had no idea that it would have an audience abroad. Of course we knew that there was an audience abroad, it was still a surprise the first time I was invited to speak overseas. In Tokyo Godfathers we understood from the beginning of our production that there would be an audience outside of Japan. It is important for me as a representative of the film and its creators to see you here so that in the next movie I will remember your faces and take you into account.
Q: Is the next film more science fiction or fantasy?
A: The next movie I am working on is set in the future. In anime we often create a future that is near, that we can imagine but this movie is about the future of the future, a future folklore story. From a child’s perspective it is an adventure film while an adult may view it differently.
(Here are some selected questions and answers from the discussion of of Paprika.)
Q: What role did your own dreams play in making the movie?
A: Dreams are very curious. In the morning daze after a dream you go over it wondering what it meant. There are some things in your dreams that linger and if Paprika could linger, that would be the inspiration that helped me make the movie.
Q: Many of your movies deal with movement between the real and imaginary worlds, what inspired you to explore those themes?
A: When we think about human beings, we don’t always experience things rationally. Right now, I am Washington DC speaking with you, so this is an objective experience. I remember a similar experience I had three years ago in New York City, and I find that this experience is overlapping with that experience. That is how I am experience time, my own subjective experience. We can experience both objective and subjective reality.
Q: In Paprika you also talk about movies and the Internet in comparison to dreams. What do you see as the link between all of them?
A: That we watch movies in a very dream-like state or that a dream can be like a movie. So I think movies and dreams are quite similar.
Q: At the Smithsonian there is a famous picture of a philosopher looking at a butterfly after he awakes after dreaming of a butterfly, wondering if he was dreaming of the butterfly or was the butterfly dreaming of him. Considering that there are many butterflies in the film, was it an influence?
A: I like the meaning of that art. It is that wondering about the self that influences my work.
Q: What are your influences from film?
A: Most of the films I watch are from the US and they are my biggest influences.
Read other Satoshi Kon interviews online:
Perfect Blue
Official Interview
Millennium Actress
Midnight Eye Interview
DVD Vision Japan Interview
Paranoia Agent
The Home Theater Interview
Japan Media Arts Plaze Interview
Paprika
Twitch Interview
Midnight Eye Interview
http://www.tokyopop.com/Robofish/tp_article/688419.html
Satoshi Kon attended a Smithsonian showing of Tokyo Godfathers and a preview of Paprika during the Washington DC Cherry Blossom festival. TOKYOPOP.com’s Bill Aguiar was able to interview Satoshi Kon and attend the discussions that were held after each movie.
Bill Aguiar: You were a manga-ka before you started working in anime. Have you ever been tempted to work one or two manga stories on the side as a return to your roots?
Satoshi Kon: It is not like I have given up completely on manga and if there is something I really wanted to create as a manga, of course I would. I have been working steadily in anime so it would not be possible to create manga on the side. To create manga takes a great effort and it is a personal work. That is a good point, in manga you can create what you want to create. But the opposite can also be said, that you can only do what you are capable of. In anime, the staff gets together and creates together. I am attracted by the idea of a team making the best work possible.
Bill Aguiar: In some of earlier interviews, you talked about how Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 was a major influence. He recently passed away and I was wondering if any other of his works were of interest to you?
Satoshi Kon: As far as Kurt Vonnegut is concerned, I only have read some of his works. The reason that I mention Slaughterhouse 5 as having the greatest influence, I saw the George Roy Hill-directed movie before I read the novel, and I was very much impressed how in the movie different places and times would be put together and expressed at the same time as we follow the protagonist. I have read the original novel itself, but it was the movie that left an impression on me and has had a huge influence on my work.
Bill Aguiar: As I look at your work, I am reminded of the novels of Philip K Dick. I was wondering if you were familiar with him.
Satoshi Kon: As far as Phillip K. Dick is concerned, I haven’t read all of his works but I have read several. He is one of the authors that I prefer to read and it is also similar to the Kurt Vonnegut situation in that before I read the novel I saw the movie Blade Runner. I am very interested in the nightmare image. That is the influence I have from him which I have been saying that quite a bit in my interviews. Last year at the Hawaii Film Festival that was held, and the small synopsis they had in the program with Paprika said is was like a collision of Hello Kitty and Phillip K. Dick. I felt that was correct.
Bill Aguiar: Your first movie was Perfect Blue, which was an adaptation, and Paprika is also an adaptation. From your interviews about Perfect Blue it seemed that you did a major rewrite of the novel for the movie while in Paprika you adhered more strongly to the original. What has changed in your process of adaptation between the two movies?
Satoshi Kon: Whether it is an original story written by a novelist or one that I write, I don’t really differentiate between them. If a story is interesting to me, I would like to make a movie of that story and of what attracted me to it in the first place. The change in approach that took place between Perfect Blue and Paprika was in the way that I accepted the work. In the case of Perfect Blue, I was chosen to direct it and I was told I could rewrite it in any manner. In the case of the Paprika, I chose the story to adapt so there was no need to rewrite it because if it needed rewrites I would not have chosen it.
Bill Aguiar: Do you have a wish list of movies you would like to make if you had the opportunity?
Satoshi Kon: I don’t especially have a wish list of stories. I have a consistent interest in manga and novels, and am always looking at them. In the case of Paprika, some time had elapsed and I thought that maybe we could give it a different approach. I have never really prepared a wish list per se, for two weeks from now I might come across something that I would have never imagined, a story written by someone else or one that I might want to write, because I have a new idea that I might find interesting.
Bill Aguiar: You are also well known for the TV series Paranoia Agent. According to interviews, Paranoia Agent was a way to get a lot of little ideas out at once. Do you think you have enough of those ideas left for another TV series?
Satoshi Kon: I would like to create another TV series. In the case of Paranoia Agent, after several movies I had there were some ideas that were not included into them. Over time those ideas accumulated, and there was no way I could part with them so I recycled them and turned them into Paranoia Agent. So after two or three more movies I will have enough ideas accumulated to do another TV series.
Bill Aguiar: So what is next for you?
Satoshi Kon: I am already starting scriptwriting the next movie. It will be an original story scripted by myself, and I have a feeling that two to two-and-half years from now you will see it. It will not be like Paprika in that it will not have a mature target audience but be one that children could enjoy. That said, it will not be a child-oriented film so it could be viewed with an adult’s perspective differently from how children will watch it.
(Here are some selected questions and answers from the discussion of Tokyo Godfathers.)
Q: Tokyo Godfathers seems rather realistic and comedic as compared to your other works. Are you planning to return to this type of movie?
A: I look at it as very serious film with real drama in that it is a real setting though some of the things that happen seem to be based on fantasy. I would like to move towards more fantasy-based work.
Q: What do you think of the popularity of your work outside of Japan in Europe and the US?
A: With my first movie Perfect Blue I had no idea that it would have an audience abroad. Of course we knew that there was an audience abroad, it was still a surprise the first time I was invited to speak overseas. In Tokyo Godfathers we understood from the beginning of our production that there would be an audience outside of Japan. It is important for me as a representative of the film and its creators to see you here so that in the next movie I will remember your faces and take you into account.
Q: Is the next film more science fiction or fantasy?
A: The next movie I am working on is set in the future. In anime we often create a future that is near, that we can imagine but this movie is about the future of the future, a future folklore story. From a child’s perspective it is an adventure film while an adult may view it differently.
(Here are some selected questions and answers from the discussion of of Paprika.)
Q: What role did your own dreams play in making the movie?
A: Dreams are very curious. In the morning daze after a dream you go over it wondering what it meant. There are some things in your dreams that linger and if Paprika could linger, that would be the inspiration that helped me make the movie.
Q: Many of your movies deal with movement between the real and imaginary worlds, what inspired you to explore those themes?
A: When we think about human beings, we don’t always experience things rationally. Right now, I am Washington DC speaking with you, so this is an objective experience. I remember a similar experience I had three years ago in New York City, and I find that this experience is overlapping with that experience. That is how I am experience time, my own subjective experience. We can experience both objective and subjective reality.
Q: In Paprika you also talk about movies and the Internet in comparison to dreams. What do you see as the link between all of them?
A: That we watch movies in a very dream-like state or that a dream can be like a movie. So I think movies and dreams are quite similar.
Q: At the Smithsonian there is a famous picture of a philosopher looking at a butterfly after he awakes after dreaming of a butterfly, wondering if he was dreaming of the butterfly or was the butterfly dreaming of him. Considering that there are many butterflies in the film, was it an influence?
A: I like the meaning of that art. It is that wondering about the self that influences my work.
Q: What are your influences from film?
A: Most of the films I watch are from the US and they are my biggest influences.
Read other Satoshi Kon interviews online:
Perfect Blue
Official Interview
Millennium Actress
Midnight Eye Interview
DVD Vision Japan Interview
Paranoia Agent
The Home Theater Interview
Japan Media Arts Plaze Interview
Paprika
Twitch Interview
Midnight Eye Interview
http://www.tokyopop.com/Robofish/tp_article/688419.html
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