When Lilo & Sew and Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon co-director Chris Sanders dropped into DreamWorks to see what films they’d on their improvement roster, he fell in love with The Wild Robotic. Initially a collection of middle-grade books by author and illustrator Peter Brown, the story follows a robotic named Roz who results in the wilderness and kinds a deep bond with an orphaned gosling.
It was every part Sanders wished: delicate, emotional, and character-driven.
“Typically after I see a property like this, I really get a bit of bit anxious, as a result of I really feel like I do know what to do,” he tells Polygon. “So I wish to be the one which does it. I simply really feel like, I believe I do know precisely what to do. Please let me do it, as a result of I do know the place to go. I’ve a very good route.”
Sanders, who additionally co-directed The Croods for DreamWorks, knew what he wished this film to be. And now that pc expertise is lastly able to approaching the look of hand-drawn animation, he was capable of push the film to look the way in which he envisioned it. From the primary trailers, which revealed a lush, attractive film not like every other, we have been desirous to know extra. So forward of the film’s late-September launch, Sanders sat down with Polygon to speak about utilizing his 40 years of expertise within the animation world to craft this deeply private story.
This interview has been edited for concision and readability.
Polygon: Is there a film you beforehand labored on in your profession that you just really feel ready you most for The Wild Robotic?
Chris Sanders: Lilo & Sew and Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon. These are essentially the most private movies I’ve ever labored on. Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon was tailored from a ebook, nevertheless it ready me for this explicit movie, as a result of once we got here on to Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon, we have been inheriting the movie from a former director, and so they didn’t just like the route that was going. They wished to make a change. We needed to strip the story all the way down to its framework with a view to determine what the issue was. Image a automobile coming into a store, and it’s not working, and also you surprise why, and also you simply take the entire thing aside, and you start constructing it up from scratch.
So my expertise engaged on the story for Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon taught me that it’s OK to deal with this stuff structurally for some time. Earlier than you permit your self to get into the extra enjoyable components and the characters, it’s okay to again up and take a look at them structurally. In order that’s one thing that I actually took away from Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon. It served me nicely on this explicit narrative.
How intently did you’re employed with Peter Brown for the film?
Our very first cellphone name was to Peter Brown for the mission. It was essentially the most consequential cellphone name of the collection. I’ve but to satisfy Peter in particular person. Our timing on this was very troublesome, as a result of he was within the midst of shifting, after which he had his first little one, and he was additionally ending up his third ebook, and he had a deadline for that. So he was by no means actually capable of come out and go to us. We have been at all times doing issues over Zoom.
However that very first cellphone name, he mentioned one thing that was extraordinarily important. He advised us that whereas he was writing the ebook, the theme that was going via his head was that kindness generally is a survival ability, and we simply instantly wrote that down. I knew that I wished to memorialize that in script and display screen, and that’s precisely what we did.
The Wild Robotic grapples rather a lot with the stresses of parenthood. How do you strike a line between a narrative that might be accessible to youngsters however nonetheless significant to adults?
Since I started my journey in animation, I realized that to make a very good animated film for everybody, you’re employed to not exclude. You by no means fairly goal anybody, however you do the alternative. You just be sure you don’t do one thing that might, for some cause, maintain another person — anyone — from having fun with the movie. And that doesn’t imply everyone has to grasp every part. It’s okay to have stuff that goes over youngsters’ heads on occasion. I keep in mind after I was a child, in TV reveals and films, there have been sure issues, like, I don’t know what’s happening, however I nonetheless like this film. So we work to not exclude.
One of many features of the story I actually gravitated towards was that there’s a robust theme of motherhood that runs all through — it’s at all times been a little bit of a gag in animation, that there are at all times lacking moms in these tales. And I’ve come to grasp why that’s. However on this case, it was core to the story.
So meaning the entire thing was actually recent and actually completely different. And I really like issues which might be each difficult and likewise issues I believe I can do issues with. I don’t thoughts that there are parts which might be a little bit of a puzzle, and that may be onerous to determine. As a result of when you’ve a very good story crew and a very good editor, you’ll determine this stuff out.
Picture: DreamWorks Animation
What was one thing that introduced a little bit of a puzzle?
There have been a couple of, like precisely what Roz’s trajectory is thru the movie, notably when she arrives on the island. Within the ebook, she is pushed to discover a activity, and she or he’s within the unsuitable place, and there are not any individuals to offer her a activity, so she is annoyed. That tends to get very monotonous. So one of many issues we have been actually making an attempt to do is maintain Roz fascinating and compelling, and by no means let her get right into a monotonous place the place she’s merely going and asking everyone, “Do you’ve a job? Do you’ve a job?”
So discovering her angle as she went into the entire thing, but additionally weaving the theme of motherhood all through your complete movie. It’s a really highly effective factor, and also you don’t wish to shrink back from it, so that you wish to give it room to breathe. The timing of this film was very essential as nicely. It signifies that I took a few of the characters from the ebook and I trimmed them again so different characters would have extra time to do what they should do. But in addition that we’d have a film that had the identical tempo in its completed type that I used to be feeling after I learn the ebook.
You don’t wish to be hurried. You don’t need a crowded film. And also you don’t need a film that has too many characters or an excessive amount of dialogue, the place you’re simply tripping over your self such as you’re working in entrance of a lawnmower or one thing. I’ve positively seen films that had that.
Did the voice solid for this movie deliver something to their characters that ended up shaping the film’s trajectory?
It’s one of many enjoyable issues about casting a personality. You do your greatest to current a personality that’s fascinating and compelling. As soon as an actor says sure to a task, the very first thing you do is, you return via your complete set of dialogue and also you rewrite.
Catherine [O’Hara] is a superb instance. She performs the last word mother on this film — has three households a 12 months at the least. So Pinktail the [possum] might have been a very sentimental character, very involved about her treasured youngsters and this and that. However with Catherine on board, we took a complete completely different angle that was recent, and, I believed, simply a lot enjoyable. She’s over it. Her nurturing wore off many seasons in the past. So she’s a really pragmatic mother. She loves her youngsters, she takes care of them, however there’s a second the place she’s not precisely positive what their names are, as a result of she has too many yearly, and so she’s a bit of bit behind on this and never tremendous involved. And I liked her tackle that character.
Lupita [Nyong’o, who plays Roz] had the toughest activity. We wished the recent and compelling tackle a robotic that’s rising as a personality, and we didn’t need it to be a two-dimensional factor, the place a robotic goes from being impassive to having emotion. That’s simply too easy. What Roz goes via is way extra advanced and extra dimensional. And Lupita labored very, very onerous, as a result of I insisted that Roz haven’t any facial articulation.
I’ve a whole lot of emotions about which sorts of robots work greatest on display screen. Lupita knew that 100% of her efficiency was on her voice. We have been going to go away these recording classes simply together with her voice, so she needed to weave each little piece of nuance and emotion into these recordings.
What we additionally have been monitoring was this modification: Roz is essentially the most outstanding character via the movie. She’s the lead. So she has extra dialogue than every other character. The sheer scale of what Lupita needed to accomplish, on prime of the evolution of Roz, and actually discovering a voice to start and finish with that have been completely different.
As we went into recording classes, we needed to observe that voice as we did completely different sequences, as a result of we do this stuff out of order. No matter sequence is able to go, that goes into manufacturing. That may be a sequence within the third act, or it may be a sequence within the second act. So we’re leaping round and dropping into these sequences, and Lupita needed to regulate her voice relying on the place she was through the recording session.
I can not say sufficient about how extremely proficient she was. However not simply proficient — she had an unbelievable work ethic. She sat on the microphone for 4 hours at a time. I’ve executed stuff like that, and it’s exhausting — it’s onerous to remain centered and on level and recent on the finish of a session like that. She did such an excellent job.
Picture: DreamWorks Animation
There’s an extended historical past in films of robots who develop emotions and relationships. Have been there sure characters or films you drew from for Roz’s design?
There are positively robotic characters that I discover are extra profitable than others: C-3PO, R2-D2, the robotic from Forbidden Planet. The one robotic that I’d say has facial articulation that truly works, for my part, is the Iron Large. So these have been the characters I used to be most , not simply due to the shortage of facial articulation, but additionally simply because they’d such robust designs. That was a really welcome problem for us, was to create a robotic that might be iconic and memorable and would take its place — hopefully, in success‚ inside an enormous neighborhood of very, very memorable robots.
Our design workforce, specifically certainly one of our artists named Hyun Huh, who designed Roz… We have been all making an attempt out designs, myself included. However someday, once we got here into our artwork assembly, Hyun introduced his design, which is mainly the design you see on display screen. All of us simply fell in love with it and mentioned, “You probably did it. It’s a unified design. It’s easy, it’s interesting.”
And Peter Brown, in his ebook, describes Roz each very clearly, but additionally very graphically. Which implies a whole lot of the small print have been disregarded, due to his graphic type. We knew we needed to have a humanoid robotic, not simply due to the design introduced in a ebook, but additionally as a result of Peter Brown advised us in particular person throughout a kind of cellphone calls what a Rozzum [robot] was: A Rozzum is a generalist. A Rozzum is made to suit into human areas and work alongside people, doing jobs with them and for them. So Roz seems to be human, however she’s additionally adaptable. She’s a studying robotic. She’s a bit like Foolish Putty. She will imprint on issues and study issues, relying on the place she is.
The visible look of this film is so distinct and evocative. How did you develop it?
It’s one of many massive tales of this movie. DreamWorks had already made some big strides in getting away from the CG look that we have been so habituated to by design. We have been shackled to that look as a result of the expertise had limitations. So with The Dangerous Guys and with Puss in Boots: The Final Want, they’d moved right into a extra illustrated type, which was wonderful. However for Wild Robotic, we wished to go nicely past that.
Our improvement paintings, it’s this free, sketchy stuff that’s executed in paint — digitally, however nonetheless painted. I really like the look of it. It had the impressionistic vibe, and it was very a lot the way in which I used to be seeing the story as I learn the ebook. So I requested [Wild Robot production designer] Raymond Zibach, might our completed movie be indiscernible from these explorations? And he mentioned, “Let’s go for it.”
One of many issues they wanted to do to attain that look… We might not wrap geometry with textures, which is what we’ve been doing in CG from the very starting. We’d like the hand-painted look all over the place. Not simply within the sky, however on the bottom and within the bushes, in bushes and flowers and every part. In order that’s what they did. They discovered a method to paint dimensionally. So there isn’t any geometry within the movie, apart from the characters. And even the characters have painted surfaces.
[DreamWorks head of look] Baptiste Van Opstal labored very, very onerous to get each single feather to be a brushstroke. And if you happen to get near Fink [the fox, voiced by Pedro Pascal] or Thorn the bear [voiced by Mark Hamill], they don’t have particular person hairs, which is the factor we’re additionally used to [in CG animation], proper? You get actually near a personality, it’s like, Ah! 1000’s of hairs! Computer systems wish to do that kind of photoreal factor, however we wished every part to be painted. In order that’s the massive story of this movie, is what Raymond and his workforce have been capable of obtain.
I really feel like this movie has really introduced our journey full circle. I’d say Bambi was the start. Bambi is our touchstone so far as the greatest-looking forest I’ve ever seen in an animated movie. Subsequent door to that might even be My Neighbor Totoro by [Hayao] Miyazaki. Now we have been struggling to get again to that analog heat which you can solely get from the human hand, and we lastly did it with this movie.
One of many issues I’m so thrilled by is that individuals who take a look at it, even when they don’t know precisely why it seems to be completely different, they nonetheless see the distinction and so they react to it. This can be very compelling, and it supercharges every part on display screen. I’m actually thrilled — I really feel like we’ve lastly come out of the tunnel we’ve been in for like 20 years, and now we’re open and free to maneuver visually like we was a very long time in the past.
Picture: DreamWorks Animation
What have been some visible influences you drew from?
Actually Bambi, [and that movie’s lead production illustrator] Tyrus Wong. Within the futuristic components, we checked out Syd Mead and his design sensibility, as a result of every part is glossy and delightful. We wished the world that Roz ended up in to be the precise reverse of the place she was presupposed to be. We additionally took a whole lot of inspiration from wildlife pictures and wildlife documentaries — the way in which that you just use lengthy lenses, since you’re obligated to remain far-off out of your topics. So sure components of the movie have a vibe such as you’d get from a nature documentary, due to computing it.
Over the previous 5 years or so, we’re seeing increasingly more films that push the envelope for what pc animation can do. You’ve been within the business for many years — why do you assume that’s taking place now?
I believe all of it does come again to expertise. That was the factor that anchored us proper in a single spot. We obtained extra chain yearly, however we have been nonetheless anchored to that CG look. We have been obligated to wrapping geometry, and we obtained higher and higher textures yearly, and many others., and many others. However it nonetheless had this bizarre kind of photoreal vibe, despite the fact that films like The Croods saved it so simple as potential, so it was nonetheless very interesting. However I do imagine it was principally technology-based. And I believe that what occurred was, there’s a tipping level we lastly reached, the place we are able to lastly technologically transfer past the place we have been.
What current animated films have actually stood out to you in that vein?
I believe I’d be shocked if anyone didn’t say Spider-Verse in answering that query. That movie was such a wake-up name, and it put everyone on discover that issues have modified. That was a sea change. The second one got here out, and was equally as unbelievable. However the first Spider-Verse, I believe everyone was buzzing about that after they noticed it. You couldn’t cease speaking concerning the look of it, and the type and the texture of it. I’m so glad that it really it had an amazing field workplace and it was acknowledged at awards season.
Picture: Sony Photos
So I do know I’m citing one thing you mentioned virtually 20 years in the past, however there’s a quote from again in 2007, whenever you left Disney to go to DreamWorks, the place you mentioned you preferred the way in which DreamWorks checked out animation. Do you keep in mind what you meant by that?
I think what I used to be most likely speaking about was… It feels like a unfavourable, nevertheless it’s really a constructive. We don’t actually have a home type [at DreamWorks], which means they’re not obligated to a sure look the place in the event that they abandon that, they’ll be dinged for it. And I believe this [movie] is a superb instance of that energy. We’re capable of discover completely different seems to be for various movies, relying on what’s going to be the simplest search for the movie.
What was it like returning to DreamWorks for The Wild Robotic? Did something change? What stayed the identical?
Studios at all times evolve. Artists come, artists go, and all of us flow into between studios. I used to be at Disney for some time, for a very long time, after which got here to DreamWorks, and I could go someplace else sometime! So it has developed. However the factor about DreamWorks, I believe, that has stayed constant is an obligation to the audacity of the size of the movie.
That’s one thing [Disney veteran and DreamWorks co-founder] Jeffrey [Katzenberg] was at all times actually good at. We as filmmakers are inclined to get nearer and nearer and nearer to a mission till, like, you’ve obtained this monocle on, and also you’re a watchmaker these little tiny components. And Jeffrey had this wonderful means of simply kind of figuratively grabbing you by the collar and pulling you again and making you take a look at the movie as a complete. Are you doing the massive, big issues that you just anticipate from a movie? He at all times was nice in specializing in the size and the extent of audacity in these films.
What was one thing you labored on early in your profession that basically formed the way in which you checked out animation and filmmaking going ahead?
There’s fairly a couple of, fairly a couple of issues… I ought to maintain an inventory of this stuff! Each movie, you study one thing. Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon. Magnificence and the Beast. The Croods. Mulan. You study one thing from every certainly one of them.
One of the crucial necessary issues I realized from Lilo & Sew from [composer] Alan Silvestri was that music is without doubt one of the simplest storytelling instruments you’ve in your arsenal. I’ve come to essentially, actually depend on that. In Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon, an amazing instance can be a sequence we name “the forbidden friendship.” That was when Hiccup discovered himself alone in that cove with Toothless. We simply turned the dialogue off, and music turns into the voice of the film. It’s one of the enchanting issues you are able to do, is have characters speaking on occasion. It actually makes individuals concentrate.
We do this rather a lot in The Wild Robotic. One of many issues I’m actually, actually happy with on this explicit movie is the tempo we have been capable of obtain. We had about 50% of the dialogue that these movies usually have, so we’ve got much more wide-open areas. Nonetheless, I nonetheless designed what I’d name “homes for music” inside the film. We simply drop dialogue and let music take over. So there’s fairly a couple of locations the place Kris Bowers, our wonderful, wonderful composer, was carrying the narrative for us.
The place do you most wish to see animation go sooner or later?
I’d like to see it go in all kinds of instructions. We lastly escaped the gravitational pull of planet CG, and I really feel like we’re all free to maneuver. So simply myself, personally, I can not wait to discover completely different types, relying on the kind of story that we’re telling. Animation is extra alive and nicely than ever earlier than. One of many issues I’m getting such a kick out of is seeing how animated movies are actually doing nicely this 12 months within the theaters. [Ed. note: As of publication time, Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, and Kung Fu Panda 4 were all top 10 biggest box-office earners for 2024.] They’re a few of the greatest movies this 12 months, flat-out, proper?
I really like seeing animated movies get their due so far as simply good viewers participation. I believe that tackling extra severe subject material… You’ll be able to inform a narrative for any viewers, any age group, so long as you’re conscious of what age group you’re talking to. You’ll be able to capitalize issues. So The Wild Robotic really tackles some fairly grown-up stuff and a few fairly heavy themes, however we do it in a method that’s comprehensible and digestible to anybody. So I believe [American animation is] simply broadening the spectrum of the kinds of tales that we inform.
The Wild Robotic hits theaters on Sept. 27.
