This past Friday ‘Strange World’ arrived in theaters, the new Disney animated film in which the adventure movies with science fictionalways keeping in mind that it is a film aimed at the whole family.
At Espinof we had the opportunity to chat with Don Hall and Qui Nguyen, the directors of a film that is on its way to being one of the biggest commercial flops of the year. In that interview we address different topics, from the references for the construction of ‘Strange World’ to the rules for the construction of Avalonia:
- ‘Strange world’ is, among other things, a tribute to a certain adventure and science fiction cinema, what were your references and what were your favorites as children?
Don Hall: There are many, and you can see them all again as part of “the investigation”. ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’, ‘The Lost World’ by Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘King Kong’ and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. As far as my favorites go, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is my favorite movie of all time and ‘Jaws’ is probably second.
Qui Nguyen: ‘Duck adventures’. I’m also a fan of ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. John Williams’ music for ‘Superman’ was also an influence, but in the end the goal was to do something big and daring, something that when you get home and listen to it you pretend to be those characters.
- The world of Avalonia gives the feeling of being created following a series of rules to give it a distinctive touch, what could you tell us about it?
Don Hall: Early in development I saw people using earth tones and thought it wasn’t weird enough. I wanted it to have a distinctive look, to look like nothing, so we banned those kinds of shades or even sky blues, anything that evokes a terrestrial setting.
That forced the team to come up with new color combinations, because we took away their usual paints, which led to some very weird mixes. In fact, the color green, if you look at the movie, goes down in this world. Green is the primary color of Avalonia and all characters have some hint of green. Green represents the world above that is getting into the strange world.
- Qui, ‘Strange World’ is the first film in which you also participate in directing, what was the biggest change compared to working only as a screenwriter?
Qui Nguyen: It allows me to put another spin on the script in many ways. In animation you do all parts of the process at the same time. For example, here the idea came from Don and then they brought me, in the reverse order that usually occurs in live action. And we started to build it all together, from the beginning to the end.
One of the bad habits of screenwriters is that you overwrite because you don’t have control over the movie. Here I could be part of the process, so I didn’t feel the need for the characters to talk nonstop in the film. If you notice, in the last act we rely only on Henry Jackman’s music, which is what sustains everything there and we tell the story with a minimum amount of dialogue. Only two or three pages in total for about 20 minutes of film, and I think it works very well based on great scenes, amazing animation, and great music.
- Don, you’ve been working at Disney much longer, what would you say makes ‘Weird World’ different from the rest of the previous films you’ve made with the studio?
Don Hall: I would say that with ‘Strange World’ we have achieved a relatively personal film. There’s a lot of my own personal history in it. And we did it by having a great adventure at the same time. I am very proud of it. It’s just the kind of movie I would have loved as a kid and I hope audiences will love it too.
- Alan Tudyk has been lending his voice to all of Disney’s animated films for many years, how did he become something of a charm for the studio? And will he ever voice him to the lead character?
Don Hall: I’m superstitious about certain things and as far as I’m concerned, Alan will always have a place in any of my films. I’ll find a way to get him involved. And I would love for him to voice a leading man, because he is very talented. He can do anything, I’ve seen him. He hopefully one day.