5 Cool Things From Takashi Miike's AMA

Article by Anthony Cleveland

Takashi Miike is the most prolific filmmaker working today. He's done everything from Yakuza flicks to horror films to musical and family features and everything in between. Within his 26 years as a filmmaker, he's even managed to cram in on heck of a milestone: his 100th film, Blade of the Immortal, his latest samurai epic, which is now showing in select theaters. Recently, Miike took to the reddit forum r/Movies for an AMA (ask me anything). We've combed through the lot and pulled out these five cool nuggets below. Enjoy!

• 1: Miike was approached to do the Mad Max remake.
• "What was offered to me was a remake of Mad Max. That was before the most recent remake, by George Miller. When I watched the remake I felt like I could have done that remake too. But I guess if we are being exact, the most recent Mad Max film isn't exactly a "Hollywood" film..."
   
• 2: The secret behind his prolific filmography.

"I don't feel much differently than when I made the first movie. As for the time, for filmmaking it depends on each film. Some films can be filmed in one day and some take 100 days to film. Some take one day to edit and some of them take 3 months to edit. So out of the 100 films that I've made so far, it really depended on every film, every time. However, each film felt fresh to me and every time I had a new project it was my first time doing that kind of project. But for me, the past is in the past and when I get my next new project, I really see it as something new and fresh. And I still feel that way, the same as when I started."

• 3: The limits on violence.

"I don't really try to place limits or restrictions on what I think should be a set criteria. I think it really depends on the moment and the character, the action, the victim. All of these things are factors in determining if the way violence is expressed is appropriate or not. I don't see there being a set criteria for when it's too much or not. Depends on the circumstances. And I personally don't think the expression of violence in film should specifically be limited in black and white terms."

• 4: He wants to work with Christopher Walken.

"There is a veteran actor, who is very well respected that I've always wanted to work with. And that's Christopher Walken. And in talking to other filmmakers about this, they say well he might do it if you have a dance scene. So I've even gone so far as to think "well then I would like to make a movie that has a dance scene in it." He is a superb actor."

• 5: A surprising influence.  

"As entertainment, or films you'd watch for fun, I really enjoyed films by Steven Spielberg when I was a child. His films could touch viewers of many ages all over the world. I have realized that there are excellent filmmakers doing something completely different than what I'm doing. And I respect those people. For example, my film Ichi the Killer was influenced a lot by Spielberg's work. When talking about being influenced for me, being influenced by someone else teaches me a valuable lesson. Which is even if you try to copy what someone else has done, you can't achieve it. You can do your own thing very well but some of my influencers have taught me the lesson that even if I try to imitate what they're doing, I can't quite get there. So you may not be able to copy what someone else does, you may not be able to do what they do, but here is something that you can do very well."

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