9started off as an award-winning short some years ago.Whats the story behind it being transformed into a feature?
And thats when I met Jim Lemley, the creative producer on the feature.
You should start working on a treatment.
Id arrived at this place where I wasnt entirely prepared to be!
Just becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable that was the modus operandi I was under.
And it seemed to work out.
Speaking of the creative process, Id love to talk with you about the design work behind the film.
What were your influences?
Even set design, and the backgrounds, can tell a story.
And then just finding a way to mess it up.
[Laughs] Thats great!
And that tactile, everyday aspect made it all the more vivid.
Yeah, we wanted something that was familiar, but something that was different and new.
A lot of it would be how would they locomote, how would they move.
That would form the design.
Or theres a little blow torch thats attached to it.
Or theres a little phone receiver, that the screams of the Winged Beast come out of.
So we had a lot of fun with that.
I love the work of Terry Gilliam.
And he comes from animation, although he does a lot of his films in live action now.
Also, I love Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro DelicatessenandCity Of Lost Children.
They have very strong design sensibilities.
I think Terry Gilliam has this fascination with the machine.
Its a kind of Oppenheimer tale.
9certainly doesnt feel like a traditional animated film.
EvenUpis a little different from the usual Pixar style.
Do you think theres an opening up in Hollywood to these slightly different kinds of films?
Its pretty much solved all of the technical hurdles for you.
Its really about what sort of story you want to tell.
And you might tell it with a much smaller budget as we did in our case.
These PG-13 animated films have never been seen before, so I think theres an audience there.
Read ourUK review hereand ourUS review here.
