"For the audience, the film must play a strong guiding role." ——This is a sentence written by Shinji Higuchi at the beginning of a film project book 25 years ago ("The Counterattack of Monster Literature" published by Kadokawa Shoten). Since 1984, when he made his mark in the film industry as a stylist assistant in the movie "Godzilla", Shinji Higuchi has made remarkable achievements in many aspects such as animation and live-action films. Now, he has challenged the popular manga "Attack on Titan", which is loved by readers all over the world, and has made this work into a live-action movie. Needless to say, the shocking special effects part, the movie version also gives full play to its own advantages in terms of sound and movement. Next, let's listen to what Shinji Higuchi, the superintendent who brought the blockbuster production "Attack on Titan", has to say.

◆ The original author 諫山創 gave the building yì

INTERVIEWER What was your first impression of this popular original manga?

Higuchi: Compared to the protagonist Alan, it is obvious from the shape of the giant that the author portrayed it with inexplicable malice. This kind of malice painting brings a sense of dissonance with a positive effect, making the picture more unique and shocking. At the same time, there is a feeling of hopelessness. How should we construct a worldview that is eaten by (giants) for no reason? This is where this issue comes in.

INTERVIEWER What themes did you extract from the original film to serve as pillars for the live-action film?

Higuchi: The way the protagonists struggle in a hellish environment...... Because I'm a little older, I always like nostalgia...... Indeed, when I was in my teens and twenties, I was like a character in the world of this work, I didn't understand what kind of person I was, I had a sense of confusion that I wasn't recognized, and I struggled with panic. That sense of anxiety can be compared to a world surrounded by walls, and how do the protagonists get past it? In the original, the only way to get free (to be able to move in the air) was a stereo maneuver...... Sure enough, giants, walls, and three-dimensional motorized devices are the core of Attack on Titan. While making use of these three elements of the original work, I followed the main line of healing the psychological contradictions of each character to create this work.

INTERVIEWER In addition to the malice you felt when you first read the original work, what kind of communication did you have with the original author, Sora Koyama, about how to visualize the giants who dominate the world with overwhelming power?

Higuchi: He told me not to make a drama about giants intimidating humans. For example, instead of intimidating with eyes like a zombie, it is as powerful as a beast, and it is not aggressive, in a sense a spiritless hehe giggle. I want to show the desire of giants to eat people even when they are basically unconscious. Because everyone (on the actors' side) is trying too hard, in fact, I want the feeling that it doesn't take too much acting to express the disgust.

INTERVIEWER In the original comics, how did the reader's strong sense of terror about the giant become three-dimensional?

Higuchi: When I read the original work, I felt a sense of disgust and horror about giants, and when I discussed this with Isayama, I instantly realized, "Ah, that's right! "It's the feeling of disgust and disgust I feel when I ride the last train that is full of people (laughs). Because the other party is a stranger you don't know, you feel particularly disgusted for a moment. Perhaps this is also a metaphor. When I first arrived in Tokyo, I met people who were very nervous, and when they were hostile to the moments around them, I wanted to reflect those feelings in the movie.

◆ Keep making zuò until you are satisfied

INTERVIEWER In this story that deviates from reality, you can still feel the commonality of human beings. While exploring the directionality of the real person, did you define the visual identity of the giant a long time ago?

Higuchi: The visuals are faithful to the original. So the answer is in the comics. Compared with how to show the distress, it is better to say how to show it comprehensively, which is the biggest bottleneck. Because there will be a gap between what can be depicted in a painting and what can be made in reality, we try not to miss a single detail while thinking about how to narrow the gap.

For example, a 120-meter-tall giant with a human figure of 7 to 12 staff members who only produces the upper body of the giant is operated by a CG watch. This allows for the weight and appearance of a behemoth.

Higuchi: The power of the super-large giant in the original work has already been formed in everyone's minds, and if all the zuò were made in CG, the giant itself would become a little stupid. For example, this kind of setting with a lot of teeth obviously surpasses reality and brings a strong shock, and this kind of setting will be made directly faster. "It's horrible!" If the staff can resonate with this, then it should resonate with the audience as well. Therefore, with the idea of "let's make something terrible then", we will continue to make it until we have something that satisfies us (laughs).

-- Utilizing the advantages of analog and digital technology, and integrating the ideas and efforts of the staff, this dangerous world has been created. In the face of such a terrifying giant, Haruma Miura, who plays the protagonist Alan, can only rely on three-dimensional mobile devices to fight them. Through guò VFX technology, performances brought by actors such as Haruma Miura can make people deeply feel the unique story rendering power of the live-action movie version.

Higuchi: In my opinion, the protagonist of the original work is still Alan, so I wanted to describe a story about saving Alan. In the original work, Eren was very distressed by various reasons such as being more than a human being, so this time we built a new story centered on this point.

- The human part of the film has added a lot of original settings.

Higuchi: What changed the most was the motivation of Eren (in the face of giants). Seeing your mother being eaten gives you a feeling of weakness as a man. If the revenge of killing the mother succeeds, will it stop there? It will give one the impression of such a guess (laughs). So we decided to make the cross he was carrying a little heavier. What is it that Allen is the most unfortunate to lose? When Isayama and Machiyama (Tomohiro), who was in charge of the script, discussed this issue, I thought, "Isn't it the loss of Mikasa (Kiko Mizuhara)?" In the end, such a conclusion was reached. So, we set the story as the story of how to get back the stolen Mikasa. For Alan, what is hell and what is happiness, starting from this direction, in the process of reorganizing the story, Alan's interpersonal relationships will also be reconstructed.

◆ The reason for the birth of the new character Shikishima

- Allen, who yearns for the world beyond the walls that he has never seen before, wants to be free more than he fears giants. Together with such a young and fearless Alan, human soldiers such as Amin (played by Sota Hongo) who attack the tall walls, this seems to be a work with the style of a youth group drama.

Higuchi: Ah, that's a good point. I myself felt embarrassed and couldn't speak. I'm a 50-year-old uncle this year, so I often feel like "youth is gone"! But, five years ago, I was able to substitute myself as a protagonist in my 20s, but now I can't help it. During the shooting, I found: "Ah...... I can't overlap Haruma's vigor with myself! It's no longer possible! ”。 The character of Shikishima (played by Hiroki Hasegawa) was born because if I didn't have a zài like Shikishima, I wouldn't be able to substitute myself in this work. Tong guò lets the former self and the current self fight.,It should be able to depict the reckless and upright heroes.。

INTERVIEWER Shikishima's character is a reflection of yourself, right?

Higuchi: There is a movie called "Red Beard" (1965 / Akira Kurosawa Supervision: Set at the Koishikawa Health Center, a medical institution set up by the Edo shogunate, and depicts the heart-to-heart exchange between Toshiro Mifune, the director, and Yuzo Kayama, a young doctor), I thought it was very popular when I watched it for the first time as a teenager. The result of the confrontation between Yuzo Kayama and Toshiro Mifune was Toshiro Mifune's common sense that toughly defeated Yuzo Kayama's youth. This was simply unforgivable for me at that time. If you read the second part, you can see that you can see from Haruma Miura, but I'm not old (laughs). But when I watch "Redbeard" now, I agree with Redbeard's correctness. In that case, can't we place some trust in the next generation? In this sense, through the struggle between generations, I put my thoughts on the role of Eren in this work (laughs).

- The high self-esteem of Yasumoto, who played Yuzo Kayama in "Red Beard", and the hard and easy courage of Allen in this work, will make people think of cheering for them. With this mood in the end, there will be an energy that will become more and more courageous. No matter how old a person is, when fighting against powerful things, maybe he still needs to be as young as a teenager, right?

Higuchi: That's right. When I first read the original manga, I had a sense of "what shonen manga in the 21st century is like this." When we were struggling and depressed, we also used protagonists such as Shinji Ikari as our spiritual sustenance in the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" series. And the generation of Isayama, who grew up watching "Neon Genesis Evangelion", created a story that confronted the new and powerful resistance, and it is also very convincing. It feels like you can see them drawing manga while fighting chaotic things, which is very dazzling.