The Wild Robotic director needed to transcend CG animation’s capabilities

When Lilo & Sew and Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon co-director Chris Sanders dropped into DreamWorks to see what motion pictures 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 leads to the wilderness and varieties a deep bond with an orphaned gosling.

It was all the pieces Sanders needed: delicate, emotional, and character-driven.

“Typically after I see a property like this, I truly get just a little bit anxious, as a result of I really feel like I do know what to do,” he tells Polygon. “So I need to be the one which does it. I simply really feel like, I feel 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 superb route.”

Sanders, who additionally co-directed The Croods for DreamWorks, knew what he needed this film to be. And now that pc know-how 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, beautiful film in contrast to every other, we had 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 simply 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 e book, but it surely ready me for this specific movie, as a result of after we got here on to Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon, we had been inheriting the movie from a former director, they usually didn’t just like the route that was going. They needed to make a change. We needed to strip the story right down to its framework with a view to work out what the issue was. Image a automotive 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 these items structurally for some time. Earlier than you permit your self to get into the extra enjoyable elements and the characters, it’s okay to again up and have 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 properly on this specific narrative.

How carefully did you’re employed with Peter Brown for the film?

Our very first telephone name was to Peter Brown for the mission. It was essentially the most consequential telephone name of the collection. I’ve but to satisfy Peter in individual. Our timing on this was very troublesome, as a result of he was within the midst of transferring, after which he had his first baby, and he was additionally ending up his third e book, and he had a deadline for that. So he was by no means actually capable of come out and go to us. We had been at all times doing issues over Zoom.

However that very first telephone name, he mentioned one thing that was extraordinarily vital. He instructed us that whereas he was writing the e book, the theme that was going via his head was that kindness is usually a survival ability, and we simply instantly wrote that down. I knew that I needed 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 discovered that to make a superb animated film for everybody, you’re employed to not exclude. You by no means fairly goal anybody, however you do the other. You just remember to don’t do one thing that will, for some purpose, maintain another person — anyone — from having fun with the movie. And that doesn’t imply everyone has to grasp all the pieces. It’s okay to have stuff that goes over youngsters’ heads now and again. I keep in mind after I was a child, in TV exhibits and flicks, there have been sure issues, like, I do not know what’s happening, however I nonetheless like this film. So we work to not exclude.

One of many elements of the story I actually gravitated towards was that there’s a sturdy 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 are each difficult and likewise issues I feel I can do issues with. I don’t thoughts that there are parts which are a little bit of a puzzle, and that is perhaps laborious to determine. As a result of when you’ve got a superb story crew and a superb editor, you’ll determine these items out.

What was one thing that introduced a little bit of a puzzle?

There have been a number of, like precisely what Roz’s trajectory is thru the movie, notably when she arrives on the island. Within the e book, she is pushed to discover a activity, and he or she’s within the fallacious place, and there aren’t any folks to provide her a activity, so she is pissed off. That tends to get very monotonous. So one of many issues we had been actually making an attempt to do is maintain Roz attention-grabbing 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 got a job? Do you’ve got a job?”

So discovering her angle as she went into the entire thing, but additionally weaving the theme of motherhood all through the complete movie. It’s a really highly effective factor, and also you don’t need to draw back from it, so that you need to give it room to breathe. The timing of this film was very vital as properly. It signifies that I took a few of the characters from the e book and I trimmed them again so different characters would have extra time to do what they should do. But additionally 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 e book.

You don’t need to be hurried. You don’t desire a crowded film. And also you don’t desire 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 motion pictures that had that.

Did the voice forged 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 attention-grabbing and compelling. As soon as an actor says sure to a task, the very first thing you do is, you return via the complete set of dialogue and also you rewrite.

Catherine [O’Hara] is a good instance. She performs the last word mother on this film — has three households a 12 months a minimum of. 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 just a little bit behind on this and never tremendous involved. And I cherished her tackle that character.

Lupita [Nyong’o, who plays Roz] had the toughest activity. We needed 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 laborious, as a result of I insisted that Roz don’t have any facial articulation.

I’ve plenty of emotions about which sorts of robots work greatest on display screen. Lupita knew that 100% of her efficiency was on her voice. We had been going to depart these recording periods simply together with her voice, so she needed to weave each little piece of nuance and emotion into these recordings.

What we additionally had been monitoring was this modification: Roz is essentially the most distinguished 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 high of the evolution of Roz, and actually discovering a voice to start and finish with that had been completely different.

As we went into recording periods, we needed to observe that voice as we did completely different sequences, as a result of we do these items out of order. No matter sequence is able to go, that goes into manufacturing. That is perhaps a sequence within the third act, or it is perhaps 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 in the course of the recording session.

I can not say sufficient about how extremely gifted she was. However not simply gifted — she had an unbelievable work ethic. She sat on the microphone for 4 hours at a time. I’ve carried out stuff like that, and it’s exhausting — it’s laborious to remain centered and on level and recent on the finish of a session like that. She did such a superb job.

There’s a protracted historical past in motion pictures of robots who develop emotions and relationships. Had been there sure characters or motion pictures 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, in my view, is the Iron Big. So these had been the characters I used to be most taking a look at, not simply due to the dearth of facial articulation, but additionally simply because they’d such sturdy designs. That was a really welcome problem for us, was to create a robotic that will be iconic and memorable and would take its place — hopefully, in success‚ inside an unlimited group of very, very memorable robots.

Our design staff, specifically considered one of our artists named Hyun Huh, who designed Roz… We had been all making an attempt out designs, myself included. However sooner or later, after 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 e book, describes Roz each very clearly, but additionally very graphically. Which suggests plenty of the small print had been neglected, due to his graphic fashion. We knew we needed to have a humanoid robotic, not simply due to the design introduced in a e book, but additionally as a result of Peter Brown instructed us in individual throughout a type of telephone 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 appears to be like 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 huge tales of this movie. DreamWorks had already made some large strides in getting away from the CG look that we had been so habituated to by design. We had been shackled to that look as a result of the know-how had limitations. So with The Unhealthy Guys and with Puss in Boots: The Final Want, they’d moved right into a extra illustrated fashion, which was superb. However for Wild Robotic, we needed to go properly past that.

Our improvement paintings, it’s this unfastened, sketchy stuff that’s carried out 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 e book. 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 realize that look… We might now not wrap geometry with textures, which is what we’ve been doing in CG from the very starting. We want the hand-painted look in every single place. Not simply within the sky, however on the bottom and within the bushes, in bushes and flowers and all the pieces. In order that’s what they did. They discovered a solution to paint dimensionally. So there is no such thing as a 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 laborious to get each single feather to be a brushstroke. And in case you 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 need to do that form of photoreal factor, however we needed all the pieces to be painted. In order that’s the large story of this movie, is what Raymond and his staff had 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 will even be My Neighbor Totoro by [Hayao] Miyazaki. We have now 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 have a look at it, even when they don’t know precisely why it appears to be like completely different, they nonetheless see the distinction they usually react to it. This can be very compelling, and it supercharges all the pieces 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 once a very long time in the past.

What had been some visible influences you drew from?

Definitely Bambi, [and that movie’s lead production illustrator] Tyrus Wong. Within the futuristic elements, we checked out Syd Mead and his design sensibility, as a result of all the pieces is glossy and exquisite. We needed the world that Roz ended up in to be the precise reverse of the place she was alleged to be. We additionally took plenty of inspiration from wildlife pictures and wildlife documentaries — the way in which that you simply use lengthy lenses, since you’re obligated to remain distant out of your topics. So sure elements 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 an increasing number of motion pictures that push the envelope for what pc animation can do. You’ve been within the trade for many years — why do you assume that’s occurring now?

I feel all of it does come again to know-how. That was the factor that anchored us proper in a single spot. We acquired extra chain yearly, however we had been nonetheless anchored to that CG look. We had been obligated to wrapping geometry, and we acquired higher and higher textures yearly, and so forth., and so forth. But it surely nonetheless had this bizarre form of photoreal vibe, regardless that motion pictures like The Croods stored it so simple as doable, so it was nonetheless very interesting. However I do imagine it was principally technology-based. And I feel 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 had been.

What current animated motion pictures have actually stood out to you in that vein?

I feel 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 got here out, and was equally as implausible. However the first Spider-Verse, I feel everyone was buzzing about that after they noticed it. You couldn’t cease speaking in regards to the look of it, and the fashion and the texture of it. I’m so glad that it truly it had an important field workplace and it was acknowledged at awards season.

So I do know I’m mentioning 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 in all probability speaking about was… It appears like a damaging, but it surely’s truly a constructive. We don’t actually have a home fashion [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 feel this [movie] is a good instance of that energy. We’re capable of discover completely different appears to be like for various movies, relying on what’s going to be the best 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’ll go someplace else sometime! So it has advanced. However the factor about DreamWorks, I feel, that has stayed constant is an obligation to the audacity of the dimensions 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 likely to get nearer and nearer and nearer to a mission till, like, you’ve acquired this monocle on, and also you’re a watchmaker taking a look at these little tiny elements. And Jeffrey had this wonderful means of simply form of figuratively grabbing you by the collar and pulling you again and making you have a look at the movie as a complete. Are you doing the large, large issues that you simply anticipate from a movie? He at all times was nice in specializing in the dimensions and the extent of audacity in these motion pictures.

What was one thing you labored on early in your profession that actually formed the way in which you checked out animation and filmmaking going ahead?

There’s fairly a number of, fairly a number of issues… I ought to maintain an inventory of these items! 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 considered one of them.

One of the essential issues I discovered from Lilo & Sew from [composer] Alan Silvestri was that music is among the simplest storytelling instruments you’ve got in your arsenal. I’ve come to actually, actually depend on that. In Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon, an important 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 probably the most enchanting issues you are able to do, is have characters speaking now and again. It actually makes folks listen.

We try this rather a lot in The Wild Robotic. One of many issues I’m actually, actually pleased with on this specific movie is the tempo we had been capable of obtain. We had about 50% of the dialogue that these movies usually have, so we have now much more wide-open areas. Nonetheless, I nonetheless designed what I’d name “homes for music” throughout the film. We simply drop dialogue and let music take over. So there’s fairly a number of locations the place Kris Bowers, our superb, superb composer, was carrying the narrative for us.

The place do you most need 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 properly than ever earlier than. One of many issues I’m getting such a kick out of is seeing how animated movies are actually doing properly 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 feel that tackling extra severe material… You may inform a narrative for any viewers, any age group, so long as you’re conscious of what age group you’re talking to. You may capitalize issues. So The Wild Robotic truly tackles some fairly grown-up stuff and a few fairly heavy themes, however we do it in a manner that’s comprehensible and digestible to anybody. So I feel [American animation is] simply broadening the spectrum of the sorts of tales that we inform.

The Wild Robotic hits theaters on Sept. 27.