Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most legendary and influential filmmakers of all time, especially in the medium of animation. Miyazaki recently won his second Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film thanks to his seminal work on his final film The Boy and the Heron. However, Miyazaki did not attend the prestigious ceremony.
Similarly, when Miyazaki won his first Oscar, almost two decades ago, he also did not arrive to accept the award. In a later interview, Miyazaki revealed the reason behind his absence from the awards ceremony. Here is what the acclaimed director had to say about not wanting to attend the Oscars and why he boycotted the event at the time.
Hayao Miyazaki Has Revealed the Reason for Boycotting Oscars During His First Win
In 2003, Hayao Miyazaki was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film for his film Spirited Away. The event marked Miyazaki’s first nomination and also resulted in his first Oscar win. However, Miyazaki was not in attendance at the event to accept the award. At the time, Miyazaki did not publically comment on the reason for boycotting the Oscars.
In 2009, while speaking at the San Diego Comic-Con, Miyazaki opened up about the reason he was not present to accept his first Oscar. He made the following statement in an interview with The Times (via LA Times):
“The reason I wasn’t here for the Academy Award was because I didn’t want to visit a country that was bombing Iraq. At the time, my producer shut me up and did not allow me to say that, but I don’t see him around today. By the way, my producer also shared in that feeling.”
As a result, Miyazaki did not attend the 75th Academy Awards as he was protesting against then-US President George W. Bush’s controversial decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Miyazaki later broke his boycott of the Oscars to accept the Academy Honorary Award in 2014 and was present at the 87th Academy Awards.
Hayao Miyazaki Was Also Absent From This Year’s Oscars Ceremony
For his final film, The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki received his fourth nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Thus, he became the joint most nominated person in the category. The film won the Oscar at the event held on March 10, 2024, in Los Angeles, but Miyazaki once again did not show up to accept the award, with actor Chris Hemsworth instead collecting it.
Similar to his absence almost 20 years ago for his first Oscar win, Miyazaki is yet to publically comment on the reason for not attending the event. However, Kiyofumi Nakajima, a representative of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, read a note from the film’s producer, Toshio Suzuki, at the event.
Nakajima reportedly apologized to the media for Miyazaki and Suzuki’s absence from the event and cited their advanced age as the reason for the duo not being able to attend the ceremony. Hence, it would seem that Miyazaki was not boycotting the Oscars at the time of his second Oscar win, which also made the 84-year-old director the oldest winner in the Best Animated Feature Film category.
