Veteran Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has been at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) for the international premiere of his new sports film Blazing Fists. He also featured in the festival’s ‘big talk’ this week alongside producer and frequent collaborator Misako Saka.
Speaking to Deadline, Miike pointed out that this edition marked his fifth visit to IFFR and highlighted that the first thing he noticed was how the audience for his films has become older. “I’m also getting older, and ageing with the audience,” said Miike. “I first came to IFFR 25 years ago. At that time, everybody was very young, but the audience this year is a lot older.
“I’m aware that I’m getting older and I often think about how many more films I can make in my life. Making a film, while it’s not exactly like being an athlete, it’s still very physically-intensive work.”
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Directing over 100 feature film, video and television productions in the last 35 years, Miike is known for cult classics like Audition (2000), Ichi the Killer (2001) and 13 Assassins (2011). Arriving at Rotterdam with Blazing Fists, he admitted that he was slightly apprehensive ahead of the film’s public screening.
“My films have been known for their violence, but Blazing Fists is quite different,” said Miike. “Maybe some audiences will expect more violence, so I was a little afraid of letting people down or disappointing them. However, by the end of the film’s screening, it did look like people very much enjoyed the film, and that filled my heart with a warm feeling.”
Miike is currently the executive director on animated series Nyaight of the Living Cat, which is being produced by OLM, the studio behind the Pokémon franchise. He is also directing crime thriller Sham.
On the Japanese film industry’s growing enthusiasm for international collaborations, Miike said that the local population decline has forced the traditionally more insular society to look outside its own shores.
“The Japanese film industry is quite an insular society, partly because even when compared to South Korea, the Japanese population is 2.5 times larger than Korea’s, which also means that we have a much larger domestic audience as well,” said Miike. “The Japanese film industry and its filmmakers only focused on Japanese audiences because that was enough. But now, as the population is decreasing, along with new technologies and internet services like Netflix, a kind of new wave is coming.
“The Japanese film industry had to ask, ‘What can we do?’ We have to do something else and cannot keep doing things the same way, if not, we not we cannot survive. This is why there is an internationally-oriented group and new wave coming.”
At the same time, Miike cautioned against pandering too much to international tastes and interests.
“People who are thinking about what kinds of films or shows could be popular globally and then working from there — that kind of film is never successful. The important thing is to think about what you can truly make and what you want for the audience, in a spiritual way, before thinking about how many audiences you can bring there.”
Looking back on his own career internationally, Miike pointed out that his collaboration with British producer Jeremy Thomas on Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai and 13 Assassins as a highlight. “I met Jeremy at a film festival, and there was a good spark, so we decided to plan to work together,” said Miike.
Miike is also signed with CAA in the U.S. for representation. “I would also like to continue to work more with people in Europe,” he said of the future. “I’m kind of at a turning point now. I see how if a director becomes famous, everybody thinks, ‘Wow, this is a great director.’ But I want to make enjoyable films. I don’t need to be a great director, but I can make a great film. That’s what I’m thinking about now.”