Animators Roundtable: Our Movies Are For Adults
A roundtable of directors from 2014’s biggest animated films sat down at Variety Studios to talk about their craft. One thing that came from the discussion is that the animators feel like the cartoons comedies they’re making are just as much for adults as they are for kids.
The group included directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi (The Boxtrolls), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie), Chris Williams (Big Hero 6) and Dean DeBlois (How To Train Your Dragon 2).
The directors all felt that their films are for adults. That’s something Stacchi felt changed with “Toy Story” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. The roundtable group talked about how the storylines and the comedy in animated features had to get more sophisticated because no one is currently making movies for grownups. Miller added that as animators, they can “no longer talk down to the audience anymore”.
Another topic they brought up in the animated film process is how valuable improvisation becomes with the voice casts. Most of the recording sessions don’t include the actors being together. So, in those rare time when they are, they hope for the spontaneity that other live action comedies get on the set each day of shooting. Their motto is, there are no happy accidents in animation.
Watch the discussion at Variety.com
