What made you choose Will Ferrell for the lead?

Ah, because hes fun.

Hes also a great actor.

He just has a great talent, hes a great character creator.

Thats what the role needed.

And its very challenging when you do a movie about a villain.

Everyone Ive seen that can do comedy can pretty much do the heavy stuff as well.

I didnt know shed be able to take this as far as she has.

For me, it was finding a new angle on the superhero costumes and their identities.

How I rationalised it was, a hero and a villain would probably be celebrities in the real world.

Theyd have a stage presence, so I thought of bands, like Alice Cooper versus Elvis Presley.

We pitched it to the actors that way too, to get that stage presence.

It really affected his performance, which was really good.

Its a comedy, so lets push it towards leather and spikes.

There were two things that influenced me in the character of Megamind.

Im not answering your question it just reminded me of something!

So it was like, Tesla dressed like Alice Cooper.

If youve ever seen Cooper on stage, its very striking, you know?

AC/DC didnt have that look.

Megamind wouldnt look good in little shorts and a neck-tie!

So its a little bit of a mish-mash.

Its the same kind of era, though.

Youve had some great voice-over roles, and then youve turned to directing withMadagascarand now this.

How do the two compare?

And realising youre in a place where you need feedback.

So it helped me figure out the kind of feedback I should give to the actors.

I love working with artists in animation.

Its excruciatingly long and painful, and you have to love the process.

I enjoy working with them all animators are really fun, and just like working with actors.

It is in 2D too, if you want to see it that way.

Jeffrey Katzenberg said, What youre gonna like isnt the spectacle.

Using the Michael Jackson track: was it difficult to get the licence for that?

I dont know how we got it!

[Laughs] I dont know how they got them.

I dont ask questions if they say yes.

He was pretty booked up.

Its probably less political and more cultural.

The new generation raised on videogames feels like this apathetic group thats a little more selfish.

I put that into Jonah Hills character of Hal.

It is an American thing culturally, but I wasnt thinking that it could be read politically.

That its embraced more easily?

I liked the arc of the character, of a villain who comes around to being a hero.

Theres that old saying, You cant teach an old dog new tricks this was made to defy that.

Which gives me a lot of hope, because I make a lot of mistakes!

How do you react to the suggestions thatMegamindis similar toDespicable Me?

[Sarcastically] We sawDespicable Me, and had a month and a half to makeMegamind.

[Laughs]

I was worried aboutDespicable Me.

I didnt hear about it until a year into production.

I saw their movie when it came out, and thought it was great.

There was no malicious intent on either part.

I dont believe in altruism or evil.

Theres always grey and struggle.

The characters were kind of these stereotypes, but we tried to different layers to them.

A villain that has a good heart.

A damsel who doesnt need help, and is the smartest person in the movie.

So it was trying to find a way to turn it upside down.

He was a great sport.

He was like, Was that bad enough?

That was really fun.

There was plenty of room for improvisation inMegamind, I understand?

As I said, Tina Fey, every line she had, shed come back with three alternatives.

Girls, girls, youre both pretty was hers.

It was just in the moment, and its great when those things happen.

It was really funny, so we said, lets put it in the movie.

Some scenes are a hundred per cent written, but some scenes are at least half improvisation.

Do you do a read-through first, and then start improvising?

We get the gist of the scene, and then start trying to put something into it.

We can run hours of tape, recording all day to take the best of the best.

They have nothing, just pages.

We get up and act it out, and videotape ourselves.

Theyre not tied in to making the exact same performance.

Its whatever works in the dialogue.

Sometimes humours converted, because it doesnt really work in another culture.

Theyll brainstorm too, to make it work in Spain or France.

Is the discipline of acting similar to working on radio?

That was around for a long time before TV was popular, so its a different kind of discipline.

Id say radio actors are very aware of their articulation.

I dont let my actors wear headphones, because that affects their performance.

Film actings more difficult, because you have to stay in the frame.

In animation, you could do whatever you like.

Technically, its difficult to record two actors.

Its a disservice to one actor if youre letting the other improvise on and on.

But there are moments where it’s possible for you to do that.

It was really important for the love story between Tina and Will, that there was this chemistry.

They were the only actors we got together.

We recorded them three times, to ensure we got the chemistry.

Even the pauses between the lines of dialogue are part of the acting.

The timing and delivery are invaluable.

You really cant manufacture it.

Tom McGrath, thank you very much!