Emily Blunt is part of the American voice cast for The Wind Rises, the farewell animated masterpiece from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Here’s what the Edge of Tomorrow star had to say about the new anime film:

On taking on the role

To be a part of any visionary genius like Miyazaki’s movies is very exciting, but to be a part of what is said to be is his farewell film makes it all the more exciting and important when you get that call. So it was a very easy ‘yes’!

On Miyazaki’s films as art forms

I had seen Spirited Away and Ponyo, which I think were the biggest hits over here.  I was just struck by the richness of it visually.  There seems to be a lot of heart that’s gone into the hand-drawn animation in comparison to a lot of the animation you see today.  I think his themes are so interesting because there is a fantastical element to what he does but there’s a complexity in the humanity that he clings to as well.  Most of my friends’ kids have been watching Ponyo and Spirited Away; those are the films that kids are drawn to and I think that’s a huge sign. I think it speaks to a certain emotionality in them and a certain wonder, that kids are drawn to them.

On the story of The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises takes place in Japan, over a couple of decades, over both Wars really. It starts around 1918 and finishes at the end of the war, around 1945. And it follows Jiro, the hero of the piece, who is an aspiring young pilot but his near-sightedness makes it impossible for him to pursue that career. So he embarks on a career to become one of Japan’s top aircraft designers. You follow him through his life’s journey as he meets the love of his life, as he meets in these dream-like sequences his imaginary muse in this Italian aircraft designer Caproni, played by my brother-in-law, Stanley Tucci, and his friend Honjo, played by my husband, John Krasinski, so it’s a family affair, you see.

On the character of Nahoko

I play Nahoko, who is Jiro’s somewhat tragic love interest. She represents a certain purity and I think she really embodies the theme of this movie, which is that you want to dream for a better world tomorrow. She has a frankness and a positivity, which I think that comes with the fact that she knows that she hasn’t got long.  She’s got Tuberculosis and she falls in love with Jiro and they have this beautiful romance, a really incredible passionate romance.  They really only have a couple of years together but I think she is a huge inspiration to him.

On Jiro and Nahoko’s relationship

The two of them meet in 1923 on a train.  They’ve both got their heads out the window and his hat flies off and she catches it for him; that’s their first encounter.  They have a couple of humorous exchanges and they obviously catch each other’s eye and then the earthquake hits, the great Kanto earthquake that took place in 1923, and Jiro shows his heroic prowess by saving her nanny Kinu.  It’s an encounter that takes a real hold on Nahoko.  She doesn’t forget him for ten years when they meet again in this resort in the mountains and something similar happens; her parasol gets swept up by the wind and the wind rises and takes the parasol away and he catches it. So I just loved that theme that they meet every time the wind is rising and something incredible happens in those moments.

On Joseph Gordon-Levitt voicing Jiro

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Jiro.  I have worked with Joe before and I know now exactly why you would want to pick him for this role. There is a sort of buoyancy and a youth to Joe and he is someone who thinks outside the box and carves out a new space for himself, all the time. And so he’s got the right spiriting character to play someone as inventive and entrepreneurial as Jiro.

On Caproni as an inspiration to Jiro

The dream sequences include Jiro’s encounters with this very inspiring, imaginary muse, in the form of Mr. Caproni, who was an Italian aircraft designer.  Really, Mr. Caproni is the ultimate muse for Jiro and I feel that through these encounters, Jiro’s genius is actually unlocked.  He is very much emboldened by these encounters.

On voicing The Wind Rises

This one is a little more challenging because you are adapting to a character that’s already there.  I have done animated movies before but you record the voice and then they match to you.  So this is kind of like ADR to an already-there animated character.  But what I found really thrilling about it and more helpful than usual is that you get a real sense of what the scene is asking of you. And so I actually, I ended up finding it a lot easier in some ways, because you get a sense of what film you are in.

On the message behind The Wind Rises

I think the main idea you come away from is we must live, we must live and we must think for oneself and be emboldened by the dreams that we have and overcome our losses and accomplishments. It feels like that there is some resolution to it. And I think that’s why the message speaks strongly to me, in the sense that this is his [Miyazaki’s] last film.

On how The Wind Rises might be received

I think this is an incredibly emotional film. I think people are going to literally feel like they are being lifted up by the wind, because there is something very rousing about it and the ideas in it. And so I think, more than anything, you are going to be swept away by how emotional it makes you feel.