Excerpt from the talk: Q: What did you feel when you said do the director?
A: I felt it was nonsense. (laughs) Because I do not have the experience with e-konte (storyboards), I thought something was wrong with them. (laughs) I think that a person who makes a film must have a message and principles, but I don't have them, so I declined the request. Then, they (Suzuki and Miyazaki) said in unison, "Don't worry, such thing is in the original book" (laughs) I started first of all because I thought they would stop me if they thought my work was bad.
Suzuki: We said to him "Read the original book first of all". The next morning Miya-san asked him, "Did you read?" He said, "I haven't read it yet ...". This continued everyday. He does not read it. He is a big gun.
The reason why Suzuki wanted to nominate him as director: Suzuki: I was surprised by his early storyboards. Despite it being his first time, they were great. There was rhythm, lenience, and severity in the storyboards. New directors usually cannot do it.
- At the 5:10 mark in the video Yonebayashi does an ink drawing of Arrietty at the request of NTV interviewer Hatori. After the sketch is completed Hatori says to Yonebayashi, "I am sorry that I say such a worthless thing, but you are good at drawing." (laughs) In the studio Hatori explained that Yonebayashi drew Arrietty in three minutes but for the first half of that time he elaborated on how he would draw it, then he drew it in a single stretch.