As unpredictable and contentious as the awards season has been so far, one thing remains true: 2014 has turned out an amazing and diverse set of films. And even more so, it’s given us an amazing group of directors as well.
Early last month, well before the true chaos of the awards season would erupt, the Los Angeles Times conducted an in-depth Oscar roundtable interview with 2014’s notable animation directors: Don Hall (Big Hero 6), Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie), Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life), Graham Annable (The Boxtrolls), and Dean Deblois (How to Train Your Dragon 2).
You can watch that interview here:
Probably the greatest thing about the video is that we have all these different directors from all these different companies sitting down and sharing their experiences of working in animation. Everything from the first pitch, to working and communicating with the animation crew, to test screenings, international audiences, voice acting, finding the motivation during the 3-4 year process of feature animation, and really everything in-between. It shows that while these directors all have different ways of doing things at their respective studios, they all have a multitude of shared experiences when it comes to a lot of things they do.
Furthermore, you get the feeling that this is a particularly tight-knit group of directors who love what they do and love what the other person does and all of that combined fosters this incredible group of talent that supports each other on everything they do.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a tweet from Jorge Gutierrez of him and the other four directors having fun (supposedly after the interview was conducted):
Honored to be among such great feature anim directors where I learned the most important thing is to always- BUBBLES! pic.twitter.com/Qwp0eZSBbZ
— Jorge R. Gutierrez (@mexopolis) December 28, 2014
And Dean Deblois himself was among one of the many who gave Phil Lord and Chris Miller their utmost support after they were shut out of the Oscars:
@philiplord @chrizmillr @mexopolis 🙁 You guys are total winners in my book
— Dean DeBlois (@DeanDeBlois) January 15, 2015
He later gave them the thumbs-up when they won Best Animated Feature at the Critics’ Choice Awards:
Congrats to @philiplord & @chrizmillr for winning Best Animated Feature Film at the @CriticsChoice Awards!!! Your speech & movie was great!
— Dean DeBlois (@DeanDeBlois) January 16, 2015
If there’s anything to take away from all this, it’s that the camaraderie and respect these filmmakers have for each other is truly above and beyond. And every award handed to them is confirmation of the unique talents each one possesses.
As fun as it is to speculate about who will win, let’s be clear here: they’re all winners in our book.
What do you think? Were you fascinated by the interview?
