Akadot: DreamWorks has recently released the American remake of the live action Japanese film Ring. Do you think it is becoming a trend lately to go to Japan and looking for potential stories whether it's in anime, novels, or live action?

FG: I don't know if it is a trend, but as far as I can tell in the movie business, from the beginning, they've looked everywhere for stories. The story is all-important and whatever we do, at the end of the day it's all about the stories. From the first motion pictures, they were looking for stories. By the 1930's you saw a lot of European stories and lots of European directors from Germany, Poland, and Russia coming here to make films. Whether it is a trend or not, I'm not sure. I'm not a studio executive. I think just a quest for the best stories that speak to the widest community is what drives this need for stories. And maybe right now studios are seeing that stories which are coming from Japan are stories that are bringing people to the box office.

Akadot: Have you watched a lot of Japanese films (animated or live action)?

FG: I loved Akira Kurosawa's films. I am pretty American in that respect. That is a pretty American thing to say. Of course, I've seen plenty of Godzilla and Gamera. [Laughs] I watch those anytime they come on. The worse they are, the better. I really love that stuff. I actually think those films, like Kurosawa's more sublime body of work, have an archetypical subtext; there's deeper things than may be apparent. I know most of them are silly, but I really do like them and sometimes they provide little windows on the culture. I probably not as well versed in Japanese live action genres, as I should be.

Akadot: Some other studios want to pick up anime stories, but since it is anime they don't think it will hit mainstream audiences. So, they will take those stories and transform them into live action. Do you think Millennium Actress would also make a good live action film?

FG: I know lots of people are taking anime elements or whole anime stories and are making live action pictures out of them, which is fine. Hooray! [laughs] But for Millennium Actress, I would say it is better for it to remain in the anime camp. That's funny because one of the big questions that people ask about Millennium Actress is that it seems to be a live action story. It is directed like and has characters similar to a live action film and you could certainly make a live action picture out of it, but I don't think it would have the power as that is has as an animated picture. This is one of the things I find so interesting about it. When you make an animated picture, you make up your own rules. The rules of your universe are what you draw, design, or the way you compose your shots and action. Animation in itself and its entire history is about this little magic trick we can do, the control we have and the transcendence the medium affords us. I think Satoshi Kon has created a transcendent world. If we made a live action picture of it, it would probably be fine. We could even match it shot for shot if we wanted to, but it wouldn't be as focused and as transcendent as it exists now.

I don't think it would have the power. I think you would start to say, "Well, I don't know if a person would really do that," instead of it going right to your heart and your suspended disbelief from the very beginning. An action-adventure anime, yes, you could do a live action version and make a pretty absorbing film. The type of film with spies, guys who have secret super powers and run around in robot suits is all about plot and only tangentially about character, which seems a much easier transition from anime to live action. Character driven anime, like Millennium Actress would be more difficult and harder to "buy" in a live version.

Want to read more?! Don't forget to read part I. Then check out Part III of Akadot's interview with Frank Gladstone of DreamWorks.