Interview: Yoshiaki Nishimura on Animation and Imaginary Friends in ‘The Imaginary’

Yoshiaki Nishimura has two Academy Award nominations and is the writer and producer behind the new animated fantasy film, The Imaginary. It’s the second film from his company, Studio Ponoc. The Imaginary is a whimsical tale with lots of heart, imagination, and, of course, gorgeous animation.

The movie is about a young girl named Amanda and her imaginary friend, Rudger. She’s the only one who can see him, and together, they go on lots of adventures and generally have a blast. But things take a turn for the two when a mysterious adult shows up at her doorstep, with an imaginary of his own. Separated from Amanda, Rudger goes on a thrilling adventure and learns there’s more than meets the eye in the world of make-believe.

So, when we had the chance to sit down with Nishimura to chat about this film, we jumped at the opportunity. Over Zoom and through a translator, we spoke with Nishimura about The Imaginary. He shared why the story, originally adapted from a book by A.F. Harrold, appealed to him. Nishimura talked about creating a world of imaginary friends, the unlimited possibilities with animation and working with the film’s incredibly talented voice cast. And the talented writer even got philosophical when talking about the film’s meaning, and leaving space for audience reflection and interpretation It was a great chat and is well worth checking out in full below.

Ayla Ruby:  So first I’m very excited to talk. I just watched the movie, and it was absolutely beautiful. Can you talk about, your journey to this story, what appealed to you and what made you want to adapt this for the screen? Because I think, I think I read that you started out wanting to do a story with an imaginary friend before the book

Yoshiaki Nishimura: This was a book that was written in England. When I read the book, I could visualize [it]. What really attracted me to this story was that the main character for this story is not a human being, but someone who was imagined by a person and only this. You know, the person who imagined him. This is the only person who can see him. And something happens to the person no one can see. You know, no one in the world could ever even see him.

Is there any piece that’s created or based on, I mean, the main character is someone who could not be seen by anyone in the world? And then, I got really excited, like, if the audience can really relate to and emotionally invest in this character that no one can ever see. Then that must be nothing that’s been done before, and that must be very exciting to do.

Ayla Ruby: So, you mentioned it a little bit. And Amanda and Rudger are two different characters, but he’s also from her imagination. He’s part of her. And that’s a very interesting thing and I’d love if you could talk about that.

Yoshiaki Nishimura: Thank you, very much because that’s the part that’s very interesting. So in order for us to create that these imaginary beings, we have to first of all create the humans that imagined them. We have to understand and define the humans. In animation, you can do anything, you know, graphics, hand painted animation. You can create the world of fantasy in any way you want. That’s why.

What was very challenging for us to, because you could do anything in animation that it was very challenging for us to make sure that we create the world of human, the interaction, the conversations we define, what the human is, that is so important for us to create this imaginary in a world, so making sure that that part is done was such a challenge.

So in order for us to create this piece, there are so many imaginaries. So we have to think about people who imagined these imaginaries and created the background story, which was four or five times more than the script itself. We created all these stories of people, people who imagined [the] imaginary but was not really part of the story. But it’s a background story to the imaginaries.

Ayla Ruby: I think you can really see that in the library. When you’re introducing all these imaginaries – you have Shakespeare’s imaginary, you have, you have Beethoven’s imaginary, and that’s just such like a great shorthand way of doing it. So you know, kudos to you for that.

Yoshiaki Nishimura: This is like, tell you this like a joke, but there was one Japanese animator [who] made mistakes. Shaking Spear was supposed to be Shakespeare.

The Japanese animator made mistake between the spear and a lance. The lance versus the spear, so the shape is different. So, their idea was there, but the picture was incorrect. It was depicted incorrectly. But I’m glad that it seems like people got it, so I’m glad.

Ayla Ruby: It totally came through.

Yoshiaki Nishimura: Thank you

Ayla Ruby: You’re, you’re a writer, you’re a storyteller. You create these worlds for people to see on screen. Are there any are there parallels between you know the characters in the story [who imagine these imaginaries], versus you as the artist creating these stories for people?

Yoshiaki Nishimura: Oh. So I mean, maybe you felt this, but I think the, you know, the imaginary friend and creative animation, they are the same thing. So, you know, these beings right by the children and always supporting the children. And experience, you know, happy things and scary things together with the children. As a story writer, As a producer, the children will grow up eventually.

In this piece, I included, like, what happens to us, the animation storytellers, when these children grow up? That’s a back story, behind the scenes story. But while I was creating script for this piece. I was also thinking about, you know, what is like, the role of us when the children grow up. So that’s why I I invested so much of my emotion into Rudger and the imaginary friends while writing the script.

Ayla Ruby: That’s beautiful, that’s a wonderful sentiment. To go back to this story a little bit. I’d love if you could talk about, Mr. Bunting and kind of what he represents, especially, for kids, because he seems like such an interesting like villain.

Yoshiaki Nishimura: First of all, in the original book, there aren’t much, definition, [and] clear depiction of Bunting. So it was a very difficult thing to do, finding the right balance between the happy world and the scariness of Bunting and the scary part of the story.

I don’t want to say much, because if I define Mr. Bunting as “This is him.”, then it loses out the interestingness of this story.

So for that, I was thinking about, children growing up, and you know, the children have this, really, very rich imagination and richness to them. And what is it that breaks down or breaks apart or makes them lose this? The richness that they have. And I kept thinking, what is it?

I started thinking about what it’s like to be in or what really follows and drags you down when someone is trying to think or have hope, someone who would like try to, chase them from their hope.

I think for me, it was important to leave some space so that people can say, “Oh, this might be, must be some metaphor of that”. Or, “Oh, maybe this is symbolizing this.”, and have that space of their own interpretation was what was important for me.

Ayla Ruby: You mentioned having leaving space for people to have, you know, takeaways and kind of interpret the film. Is there anything, is there anything that you want people to take away, and you want people to kind of to think about as they’re watching or, you know, after they’ve they’ve watched it.

Yoshiaki Nishimura: The best thing is for people to just enjoy. The reason why I think…I mean, the interesting thing is, whether you take, you know, whose perspective, Amanda’s, Rudger’s, Bunting, you know, depending on the perspective you take, it’s going to be all different. And that is so interesting.

I would be very happy is that when you know you’re seeing things, maybe through Rudger’s perspective. I mean, he is like, an imagined being is not even real existence, but through him. If you could relate to and see your own life or life story, then that’s something. I would be very happy if people can relate to him in that way.

Ayla Ruby: That’s beautiful. And I know we’re we’re just about it at time. So I just have one last kind of a fun question. Do you have a favorite imaginary in this world?

Yoshiaki Nishimura: All those all the imaginary beings, they were all part of me. I created all of them. So I love them all. But if you know, if I had to choose one, I think The Old Dog. This is because LeVar Burton…the actor, his acting. His performance is just absolutely incredible. I love Mr. Bunting, too. I think Jeremy Swift’s acting was superb. This animation that we created, so we would like love for you to enjoy the beautiful visuals. But I think the piece became such an enriched piece, because all these wonderful actors performed so well for this gaze.

Ayla Ruby: That’s wonderful. And thank you so much for talking. I really appreciate it.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Imaginary will stream on Netflix on July 5, 2024.