Takashi Yamazaki
Yamazaki in October 2023
Born	(1964-06-12)June 12, 1964 (age 61) Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
Alma mater	Asagaya College of Art and Design [ja]
Occupations	Film director screenwriter visual effects supervisor character designer producer
Years active	1984–present
Notable work	Returner (2002) Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005) The Eternal Zero (2013) Stand by Me Doraemon (2014) Lupin III: The First (2019) Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Spouse	Shimako Satō ​ (m. 2012)​
Awards	Academy Award for Best Visual Effects Japan Academy Film Prize for Director of the Year Japan Academy Film Prize for Screenplay of the Year
Signature

Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴,Yamazaki Takashi; born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker andvisual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in theJapanese film industry.^[1] Yamazaki is the recipient of multiple accolades, including anAcademy Award, eightJapanese Academy Awards, fiveNikkan Sports Film Awards, twoHochi Film Awards, and anAsian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed over$523 million worldwide.^[2]

Yamazaki found employment at visual effects and animation studioShirogumi in 1986, and has remained there throughout his career. His first directorial features were the science fiction filmsJuvenile (2000) andReturner (2002), for which he became known as the "JapaneseJames Cameron".^[3] He later gained further notice in Japan by directing film adaptations of popular anime, novels, and manga, includingAlways: Sunset on Third Street (2005),Space Battleship Yamato (2010),The Eternal Zero (2013), andStand by Me Doraemon (2014); the latter two films both earned a total of nine awards at the38th Japan Academy Film Prize. Yamazaki's career later advanced withThe Great War of Archimedes,Dragon Quest: Your Story,Lupin III: The First (all 2019), andStand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020).

His 2023kaijuepic,Godzilla Minus One, became the most successful JapaneseGodzilla film of all time and one of his highest-grossing films. Yamazaki and the visual effects team also became the firstJapanese crew ever to receive theAcademy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2024, Yamazaki was included inGold House's annual list of100 Most Impactful Asians.^[4] He is currently working onGodzilla Minus Zero, the sequel toGodzilla Minus One, and his Hollywood debut.

Takashi Yamazaki was born on June 12, 1964, inMatsumoto, Nagano,^[1][5] to Yoshisuke Yamazaki, abaker,^[6] and Kikuko.^[7] On his childhood, Yamazaki reflected: "My parents raised me by letting me do what I wanted freely. I think that has shaped a big part of who I am today".^[6] He also has a younger sister named Satsuki.^[8]

Yamazaki was first introduced to film by the "Umbrella Program" as a child; in 2023 he reflected thatIshirō Honda'sMatango (1963) andKing Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) may have been among the first movies he ever saw.^[9] Growing up, Yamazaki was influenced to work in the film industry by monster movies and American films such as the 1977 Americanscience fiction filmsStar Wars andClose Encounters of the Third Kind.^[1][10] He filmed his directorial debut on8 mm film with the assistance of a friend during his third year atMatsumoto Shiritsu Shimizu Junior High School [ja].^[11] This 1979 science fiction short, entitledGlory, waslost for 43 years until it was rediscovered in 2022 and screened in the director's hometown.^[11][12]

In 1984, Yamazaki began working as a miniature builder forTatsuo Shimamura [ja].^[13] Following his graduation fromAsagaya College of Art and Design [ja] in 1986, he officially became an employee at Shimamura's animation and special effects studioShirogumi inChōfu,Tokyo.^{[1][5][13][14][10]}

After working on theEko Eko Azarak series andParasite Eve (1997), Yamazaki and his team at Shirogumi started pre-production on their featureNUE. The team spent two years preparing the project in collaboration withRobot Communications and they even wentlocation scouting in Australia. Yamazaki, who was still heading the visual effects for up to three commercials monthly at this point, concluded that the film would require him to create the film on a relatively enormous budget of¥2 billion, well above the average budget of¥100 million usually given to first-time directors. Thus, Robot presidentShūji Abe deemedNUE too expensive and requested that Yamazaki scrap it and attempt to make his directorial debut with a smaller scale.^[13]

Shortly after abandoningNUE, Yamazaki converted the idea for his debut feature film,Juvenile (2000), which he directed, wrote, and headed the visual effects for.^[13] Ascience fiction film,Juvenile is about a group of elementary school students who find a talking alien robot while camping in the woods and soon discover that it is their only hope in saving the planet from incoming evil alien invaders. Initially,Juvenile was to be shot on entirely on location byKōzō Shibasaki under Yamazaki's direction on a budget of roughly¥100 million, withKiyoko Shibuya directing the visual effects on a budget of¥50 million under Yamazaki's supervision.^[13][15] However, Abe decided to increase the film's budget to¥450 million in order to allow Yamazaki to make it a "proper movie for the summer vacation lineup".^[13]Toho distributedJuvenile in July 2000 and it grossed¥1.1 billion, making it the fifteenth highest-grossing Japanese film of that year.^[16] It was also shown at the 2000Giffoni Film Festival.^[17]

His next film, the science fictionactionerReturner (2002), follows the story of Milly, a young woman living in a war-torn future, who is recruited by a mysterious time traveler named Miyamoto. The film was distributed by Toho in Japan on August 31, 2002^[18] and was later in American theaters in October of the following year, where it was critically savaged.^[19] Western critics accused Yamazaki of plagiarising from popular Americanscience fiction films such asClose Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982),The Terminator (1984), andThe Matrix (1999).^[20] After its release, Yamazaki proposed a sequel toReturner but Abe asked him to make a film set in theShōwa era instead.^[13]

Yamazaki's breakthrough came when he departed from the science fiction genre to create his third directorial feature,Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), an adaptation Ryōhei Saigan's manga seriesSunset on Third Street. Set inTokyo duringpostwar Japan, this film tells the "heartwarming" story of the residents living at Third Street: Ryunosuke, a writer from the countryside; Norifumi, an auto mechanic; and sake bar owner Hiromi.Always: Sunset on Third Street – starringHidetaka Yoshioka,Shinichi Tsutsumi,Koyuki,Maki Horikita, andKenta Suga – was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and grossed¥3.23 billion, ranking fifteenth at the Japanese box office.^[21] In 2005, film criticTadao Satō regarded the film as a milestone in the usage forcomputer-generated imagery and acclaimed Yamazaki's direction.^[22] At the29th Japanese Academy Awards, the film won twelve awards, includingBest Picture andBest Director.^[1]

Yamazaki next directed, co-wrote (withRyota Kosawa [ja]), and headed the visual effects forAlways: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007), a sequel toAlways: Sunset on Third Street also based on the manga series. The film opens with an "imaginary sequence" ofGodzilla attacking Tokyo before returning to the story of the residents of Third Street.^[23] Yamazaki stated that he is a lifelong fan of theGodzilla franchise and incorporated the opening scene in order to "start with something fresh from the first film" and added that "having Godzilla destroyTokyo Tower with his oral beam was a great way to surprise audiences".^[23] He also noted that the "two minutes (in which Godzilla appears) required a tremendous amount of work", with half of the crew having to work on the sequence over the course of six months.^[24] Upon its November 3 release,Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 became Yamazaki's biggest box office hit, ranking the third-highest-grosser at Japanese box office that year.^[25]

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In 2008, Yamazaki turned to assisting his fellowAsagaya College of Art and Design [ja] graduate and future wife,^[26]Shimako Satō, with the visual effects and screenplay for her action film,K-20: Legend of the Mask. Based on a novel by Sō Kitamura,K-20 is set in analternate reality version of Japan during the 1940s and follows the mysterious maskedantihero known as "K-20" who robs the rich and powerful, leaving behind a trail of dismay.K-20 was released in December 2008 and grossed¥2 billion, making it the eighteenth highest-grossing Japanese film of 2009.^[27]

In 2009, Yamazaki created the visual effects forYōjirō Takita'sSanpei The Fisher Boy^[28] – based on the mangaFisherman Sanpei – and directed, wrote and made the effects for the live-actionjidaigekiromance filmBallad [ja]– based on the 2002 anime featureCrayon Shin-chan: Fierceness That Invites Storm! The Battle of the Warring States –.^[29] Yamazaki was inspired to createBallad after visiting thefilming location ofThe Last Samurai (2003) and contemplating "Maybe Japan could make a historical drama centered around battles?".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2009, Yamazaki started filming his first science fiction film since 2002'sReturner,Space Battleship Yamato.^[30] Featuring a screenplay by his partner Shimako Satō,^[31] it is an adaptation of famed manga artistLeiji Matsumoto's1974 anime series of the same name.^[30] With a budget estimated at¥2 billion^[32] ($22–23.9 million)^[30][31] and CGI used in 80% of the entire picture,^[30][33] it was anticipated to become an "unprecedented science fiction blockbuster", and Toho spent an additional¥100 million on New Years Day alone to promote the film and ensure it met their expectations.^[34][35]Space Battleship Yamato was released in Japan during December 2010 and grossed¥4.1 billion.^[36]

The first animated to be co-directed by Yamazaki andRyūichi Yagi [ja],Friends: Naki on Monster Island, was released in Japanese theaters in December 2011. Loosely based on Hirosuke Hamada's children's bookNaita Aka Oni, the film is about a monster named Naki who is protecting a young boy, whom they found lost on the Monster Island, from the other, man-eating, monsters. The film was nominated for anJapan Academy Film Prize and VFX Japan Award two years after its initial release.^{[citation needed]}

Always: Sunset on Third Street '64, the sequel toAlways: Sunset on Third Street 2, was Yamazaki's next venture. At the film's premiere screening on January 17, 2012, Yamazaki said that "it was very difficult to make this movie" but nevertheless expressed his desire for a sequel set duringExpo '70.^[37]

In July 2018, the production of Yamazaki's next filmThe Great War of Archimedes was announced;^[38] based on a manga byNorifusa Mita, this picture about the building of the battleshipYamato, and starredMasaki Suda in his first collaboration with Yamazaki.^[38] It was released by in July 2019,^[39] and was the sixteenth highest-grossing Japanese film of 2019.^[40]

After the release ofThe Great War of Archimedes, Yamazaki was given the opportunity to make aGodzilla film by Toho executive and film producerMinami Ichikawa. Ichikawa stated that he and Yamazaki decided to collaborate on the project during theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and Yamazaki spent three years writing the screenplay.^[41] The film, entitledGodzilla Minus One, was released in Japanese theaters in November 2023, and became one of the most acclaimed films in the franchise. For their work on the film, Yamazaki and his team became the firstJapanese film to ever to receive anAcademy Award nomination forBest Visual Effects, ultimately winning.^[42] Yamazaki himself was among the recipients of the Academy Award.

On December 27, 2023, Yamazaki began directing akaijuweb film inAshikaga, Tochigi for a major food corporation, scheduled for a March 2024 release with a runtime of approximately one minute. Its visual effects were also made by the same team behindGodzilla Minus One.^[43] It was later revealed to be titledFoodlosslla (フードロスラ,Fūdo Rosura) and produced byAjinomoto.^[44]

Yamazaki declared in February 2024 that he has a new film in development.^[45] The following month,Variety reported that Yamazaki had recently enlisted with the Americantalent agencyCreative Artists Agency (CAA);^[46] the agreement could potentially help Yamazaki to be employed for Hollywood productions.^[47] At Godzilla Fest in November, he disclosed that he had declined several offers in order to helm anotherGodzilla film.^[48]Deadline later reported that Yamazaki is set to make his Hollywood debut withGrandgear forBad Robot andSony Pictures. In addition to writing and directing the film, he will also serve as a producer alongsideJ. J. Abrams andGlen Zipper.^[49]

Yamazaki is married to fellow filmmakerShimako Satō, whom he met atAsagaya College of Art and Design [ja].^[50][26] The couple own several cats, one of which influenced Yamazaki while makingGodzilla Minus One.^[51][52]

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• Takashi Yamazaki atIMDb 
• Takashi Yamazaki onTwitter

• Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners
• Japanese film directors
• 1964 births
• Living people
• People from Matsumoto, Nagano
• Asian Film Award winners
• Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners

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