Arrietty’s Yonebayashi to direct “When Marnie Was There”
Back in 2010, Studio Ghibli released Arrietty, a Japanese animated movie adaptation of The Borrowers, a children’s classic by English author Mary Norton, which was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Today, Japanese film distributor TOHO revealed via their 2014 film slate, with Yonebayashi taking the helm of a Japanese animated movie adaptation of a British children’s book once again, with Joan G. Robinson’s children’s book When Marnie Was There. The original book’s story is as follows:
Annie lives with foster parents and doesn’t have a friend in the world. When she is sent away to stay with the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Pegg she comes across a house she feels she recognises, the Marsh House and a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna’s first ever friend before she mysteriously vanishes one day. A new family, the Lindsays move into the Marsh House and Anna uses her experiences with Marnie to befriend the new family, but soon she begins to learn some bizarre truths about Marnie, who may not be all she seemed.
When Marnie Was There will be the 19th feature film from Studio Ghibli after 2013’s The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki’s last feature length film and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, the first film Isao Takahata has directed in 14 years.
