While watching the DVD of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind yesterday, I heard the producer of Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki’s animation house) recount how, before HM started work on Princess Mononoke, he was torn over whether to make it, or to instead make a movie about a caterpillar’s herculean struggle to travel from one tree to the next tree over. The producer said he thought long and hard, and advised HM to make Mononoke, which was an action film, because, after they reach a certain age, writers/directors no longer have it in them to make such films, and if he didn’t do it now, he might not ever be able to do it.
Now, I’ve heard tell that few mathematicians ever make significant strides after they reach their mid-30s, and have obviously heard/thought that some writers/directors have burned out or said all that they have to say at some point in their lives, but I’ve never considered that a writer or director would reach a point where they would be unable to make a good action movie. Anyone else? Are there other genres that artists just become too old to pull off? And is it age, per se, or just creative exhaustion? For instance, I can see the argument working perfectly for the rock music world, but it’s unclear if that is simply from a lack of youthful energy/naivete or more from having played out your hook? (I mean, really–how many more songs did the Sex Pistols have in them?)