紐時賞析／當「魔戒」碰上日本動畫 導演神山健治如何呈現？

When ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Gets the Anime Treatment

當「魔戒」改編成動畫

When Warner Bros. approached filmmaker Peter Jackson and his longtime screenwriting partner Philippa Boyens about making a new animated “Lord of the Rings,” Boyens at first had a hard time wrapping her head around the notion. But when studio executives suggested that the film could be told via Japanese anime — suddenly it clicked.

華納兄弟接觸電影製作人彼得傑克森及他的長期電影編劇夥伴菲利帕鮑恩斯，談及製作新的動畫化「魔戒」時，鮑恩斯起初難以理解這個想法。但電影公司高層主管提議，這部電影能透過日本動畫方式呈現時，突然間一切豁然開朗。

They could tell a stand-alone story from J.R.R. Tolkien’s appendices about the people of the kingdom of Rohan, which has now become “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” directed by Kenji Kamiyama. Jackson is one of the film’s executive producers and Boyens one of its producers.

他們可以從托爾金書中關於洛汗王國人民的附錄取材，講述一個獨立故事。這個故事現在已變成「魔戒：洛汗人之戰」，由神山健治執導。傑克森是這部電影的執行製作人之一，鮑恩斯則是製作人之一。

“It was that moment of form meeting the story,” Boyens said in a video call. She said she thought anime would be an appealing approach because “it’s a story that ultimately deals with the wreckage of war, and that’s something that Japanese storytelling on film has been really good at telling.”

鮑恩斯在一通視訊通話中表示：「這是形式和故事相遇的時刻。」她說，她認為動畫會是種吸引人的形式，因為「這終究是個處理戰爭殘骸的故事，這正是日本電影敘事非常擅長的」。

“The War of the Rohirrim” (in theaters) is the latest and most high-profile anime adaptation of a Western franchise to hit screens big and small.

「洛汗人之戰」（上映中）是登上大小銀幕的西方系列電影改編動畫作品中，最新且最受矚目的一部。

When Jason DeMarco, a senior vice president at Warner Bros. Animation was brought on board to work on “War of the Rohirrim,” he quickly thought Kamiyama would be a good pick to direct, because of the animator’s experience in the fantasy genre and his work on similar projects involving Western companies before.

華納兄弟動畫公司資深副總裁德馬科被邀請參與「洛汗人之戰」製作時，他很快想到神山會是很好的導演人選，因為這位動畫師在科幻類型方面經驗豐富，先前也參與過涉及西方公司的類似專案。

“There are some anime directors who would just be like, ‘No, I don’t care what Peter Jackson thinks,’” DeMarco said. But he said he knew Kamiyama would have the ability to “get what he felt was important and make this movie his,” but also take input from the film’s producers to create something that worked within the franchise.

德馬科表示：「有些動畫導演的態度就像是，『不，我不在乎彼得傑克森怎麼想』。」但他說，他知道神山有能力「抓住他認為重要的東西，並將這部電影變成他的」，也聽取電影製作人的意見，創作符合該系列電影的作品。

On top of that, working within Hollywood came with time constrictions to meet planned release dates, Kamiyama added. But he knew that this was a unique opportunity for anime to reach an even wider audience.

神山補充說，此外，在好萊塢工作會受到時間限制，必須符合計畫發行日期。但他知道，這是個獨特機會，能讓動畫觸及更廣泛觀眾。

“That kind of an outlet is not just an opportunity for me as a filmmaker, but it’s a groundbreaking new thing for Japanese anime,” he said.

他說：「那種表現途徑不僅對身為電影製作人的我是個機會，對日本動畫而言也是開創性的新事物。」

The vibrancy of the visual language of anime — which exists on a heightened plane, not bound by rules of logic — is a good fit for Tolkien’s work, DeMarco said.

德馬科說，動畫的視覺語言活力存在於一個更高層次，不受邏輯規則束縛，非常適合托爾金的著作。

Plus, Boyens thinks Tolkien would have approved, based on how he furnished his living space at Oxford. “The first thing he bought was some Japanese prints,” Boyens said. “So, it made me go: Maybe this was meant to happen.”

另外，鮑恩斯認為，托爾金會同意這麼做，根據他如何布置牛津的住處就能知道。鮑恩斯說：「他買的第一批物品是一些日本版畫。所以，我不禁這麼想，也許這注定要發生。」

文／Esther Zuckerman　譯／羅方妤