The film itself was considered too mature to be released under the Disney banner. Instead, it was passed on to Disney subsidiary Miramax, headed by Harvey Weinstein, the now-jailed producer who had a reputation for taking art films from abroad and cutting them in such a way that appealed to the domestic market (as he saw it, at least). The contract that Studio Ghibli had signed with Disney however came with a strict condition: Princess Mononoke, which had a run time of just over two hours, could not be cut in any way, shape or form. It was a clause that would prove contentious. In his memoir Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man, about his time working at Studio Ghibli helping to sell the films to the West, film executive Steve Alpert recalls a moment when Suzuki presented Weinstein with a perfect replica of a Japanese samurai sword. He then, in front of a "horrified" conference room of Miramax employees, "shouted in English and in a loud voice, 'Mononoke Hime, NO CUT!'"
