Oshii in Variety

Via ANN, a new article in Variety titled "Anime films follow new inspirations: Evolving format aims to reach wider audience" briefly covers some of the new developments in anime, one of which is Oshii's upcoming film The Sky Crawlers:

Likewise, Production I.G's "The Sky Crawlers," which is set to unspool in Japan next year, will contain a romantic theme. For the pic, in which a society of children lives in eternal adolescence, helmer Mamoru Oshii ("Ghost in the Shell") decided to work with young scriptwriter Chihiro Itou so that his message could reach his intended audience.

"Nowadays, there are many stories in live-action and animation that are targeting young people," producer Tomohiko Ishii explains. "However, very few of them have earnestly depicted the reality that youngsters are actually living in."

It'll be really interesting to see what they come up with for the film. The screenwriter Chihiro Ito previously wrote the scripts for the films Crying out Love, in the Center of the World (aka Socrates in Love, in the English adaptation of the original novel) and Spring Snow (Haru no Yuki, the recent film version of the Mishima novel). It's been a while since Oshii has worked with a screenwriter other than Kazunori Ito (no relation to Chihiro, I assume).