Studio Ghibli Once Confronted Harvey Weinstein With A Sword For Threatening To Cut "Princess Mononoke" Movie

"It was a very convincing replica of a Japanese samurai sword"

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• October 1, 2022

Studio Ghibli is renowned for its exquisite and stunning animated films, but it also appears that they are a group of badasses. The now-famous prosecution of Harvey Weinstein, a movie executive found guilty of sexual harassment, brought to light the boss-nature of the animation studio.

After that, a Hayao Miyazaki interview became viral. The legendary member of Studio Ghibli then revealed that he once... "threatened the executive with a samurai sword." 

Recently, Steve Alpert, a former Studio Ghibli executive who collaborated closely with the director Hayao Miyazaki, provided some details about this rumor. He admitted in an interview that the director's account didn't entirely match what he had heard at work.

In his words, he said:

"I would be personally very curious to know exactly when and to whom Miyazaki told this story. While I was at Ghibli, I think I was with him for every single one of his foreign press interviews, and I never heard, or even heard of, him telling this story."

Steve then dispelled the speculation about who was responsible for sending the sword, revealing that it was Toshiro Suzuki, a co-founder, and producer of Studio Ghibli. When Harvey Weinstein's employer, Miramax, threatened to cut the "Princess Mononoke" movie, Toshiro reportedly handed Harvey Weinstein the sword and shouted "no cuts" at them.

More Info: Imgur

In an interview, the icon of Studio Ghibli said that he once… threatened the executive, Harvey Weinstein, with a samurai sword

Weinstein got the threat after he wanted to cut the studio’s movie titled Princess Mononoke

(In 1996, Disney and Studio Ghibli agreed to have their movies dubbed in English and distributed in the US. At the time, the executive was to release Ghibli's "Princess Mononoke" and Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax was a Disney subsidiary.) 

Steve Alpert wrote in his already released memoir "Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli" that Harvey Weinstein lost his cool when Hayao Miyazaki refused to reduce the length of "Princess Mononoke" from 135 minutes to 90 minutes. Harvey Weinstein allegedly stated,

"If you don’t get [Hayao Miyazaki] to cut the [damn] film, you will never work in this [damn] industry again! Do you <…> understand me? Never! "

Producer Toshiro Suzuki decided that this method of persuasion is his preferred choice

"Mononoke Hime, NO CUT!" were the words Suzuki yelled in English and with a loud voice as he handed Harvey the sword. Here are some comments made by online users.

Why would they want to cut a masterpiece?

He had to get his point across

This commenter always thought this was fake

The Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique

You got to cut to the chase

The first US release of Nausicaä

Using the sword to neuter Weinstein for the real crimes

Neil Gaiman had to fight on behalf of ghibil's behalf

“Suzuki knew of a small, hard-to-find store in Tokyo hidden away underneath the train tracks between Shinbashi and Yurakucho. It was where Japanese film studios bought the realistic-looking weapons used in Japanese samurai movies.

Suzuki picked out a sword there and brought it with him to New York for our meeting with Harvey. It was a very convincing replica of a Japanese samurai sword. It was realistic in every detail except that the blade was not sharp, which you could not tell unless you got a good, close look at it,” Steve Alpert writes in his memoir.

Maryjane