A god among animators.

A recent interview with Hayao Miyazaki, Japan's most successful film maker, who happens to be an animator as well. It was Miyazaki who was called "Shocho" by the younger animators at his studio, and that was where I first heard the nickname.

There is a rumour that when Harvey Weinstein was charged with handling the US release of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword in the post. Attached to the blade was a stark message: "No cuts."

Slightly apocryphal, as Miyazaki points out, but one of several good stories in the article.