För oss gamla stofiler som växte upp under det färgsprakande 80-talet var Rankins filmatisering av Den sista enhörningen en återkommande favorit. Strålande vackra animationer och fantastiskt röstskådespel av bland annat Christopher Lee, Mia Farrow och Jeff Bridges cementerade den i historieböckerna som en kultklassiker. Nu, fyrtio år sedan har det uppdagats att filmen mer eller mindre är en Studio Ghibli-produktion i förklädnad. Något som författaren berättade i en intervju som nyligen gjordes.
"Here's how it is: Financed in England, produced by Rankin/Bass, American company...but all of the work was being done in Japan, which was a process of Rankin/Bass going to less expensive animators in another country. And they hired -most of the animation was done by a company called Topcraft. And the minute they finished The Last Unicorn, Miyazaki hired them...And in fact, he didn't just hire them, the studio top rep was in financial difficulties, he came in and took them over and bought them up and turned it into Studio Ghibli. So most of the animators and designers who worked on The Last Unicorn, became the core team of Studio Ghibli. And all of those - 'Nausicaa,' 'Kiki,' all of them, the great Miyazaki early movies, were done by many of the same people as who worked on The Last Unicorn."
Så här i efterhand blir det väldigt tydligt när man studerar de fantastiska animationerna. Riktigt kul när sånt här uppdagas. Såg du Den sista enhörningen när du var liten?