Tom McGrath
"I came from the 80’s, when there was no work, and then Who Framed Roger Rabbit kind of changed everything." — Megamind director Tom McGrath tells the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. VIDEO: Watch the roundtable.
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Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens -
Megamind
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Dreamworks Animation "There’s a scene in Megamind where rain was really important, and to do that I had to lose dust from some other scene. Everything has a price tag on it.” — Megamind director Tom McGrath on compromises made to complete the film.
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Bonnie Arnold
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens “There are healthy rivalries. It’s like being on a baseball team or football team." — How to Train Your Dragon producer Bonnie Arnold on Hollywood's tight-knit animation community.
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How to Train Your Dragon
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Dreamworks Animation Critically praised How to Train Your Dragon was nominated for a Golden Globe in the best animated feature category.
The film's co-director Dean DeBlois praised the inventiveness of fellow nominees: Universal's Despicable ME, Django Films' The Illusionist, and Disney's Tangled and Toy Story 3.
"I think it's a really nice representation of the good work that's been done this year," DeBlois told THR.
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Roy Conli
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens "That’s what’s great about animation. It’s collegial, and it’s all about collaboration. Any good animated film is good for animation." — Tangled producer Roy Conli.
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Tangled
Image Credit: Photo Credit: © Disney Tangled producer Roy Conli on whether Pixar has changed Disney or vice versa: "It's a complete joy because you now have an executive that's a filmmaker. Definitely John's [Lasseter] spirit and Ed's [Catmull] spirit infused the place with a lot of new energy."
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Bob Last
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens "In a way, the recent animation work, unlike other Hollywood movies, feels more global." — The Illusionist producer Bob Last.
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The Illusionist
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics "When we were setting up The Illusionist, it was perceived as a film coming out of Europe, but we looked at making it anywhere. The performing talent, which in this case were animators, is in fact probably the biggest challenge, after having a story that's worth telling. There was no single place that we could have gotten enough performance animators." — The Illusionist producer Bob Last.
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Lee Unkrich
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens "When I came to Pixar way back when on the first Toy Story, I didn't come from an animation background: I was an editor, and what attracted me immediately was that what they were doing was so close to what I knew in the live-action world, just purely from a creative perspective. From the lens choice to cutting and staging — it was very much like we were making a virtual live-action film.” — Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich.
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Toy Story 3
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Disney/Pixar The first person with whom Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich — riding high on being nominated for a Golden Globe for best animated movie — shared his news with was his wife.
But this being 2010, it wasn't by voice, it was by text.
"I got a smiley face form my wife," Unkrich told THR. "That said it all."
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Chris Meledandri
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Justin Stephens "Part of the premise I had in starting this new company (Illumination) was that we would not build a bricks-and-mortar studio.” — Despicable Me producer Chris Meledandri.
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Despicable Me
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Universal Pictures "There’s room in the marketplace for all these movies because as long as these movies are really good and satisfying to the audience, it expands. The perception that one company's success was going to mean that another company was suffering — that's been dispelled." — Despicable Me producer Chris Meledandri.