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Youve had a long, storied career in animation.
ButOver the Moonis the first feature youve directed.
Thats the way I was taught.
Everything that Ive done, I approach it from sequences.
So I knew how to get the most out of a character in a certain moment in the film.
What I didnt have was the map: I didnt have getting from beginning to end.
That was the director.
I didnt have to worry about it.
I just dove in and lived in the skin of the character.
OnOver the Moon, the map I had was a phenomenal one from [screenwriter]Audrey Wells.
That gave me an enormous amount of confidence.
They handed that off toAudrey Wells, who really poured her heart and soul into this film.
I gave this talk at Annecy [International Animation Festival] in 2017.
I was presentingDear Basketball, but I was really talking about everything I love in animation.
I love characters that believe the impossible is possible.
They both just said, That guy has to direct this movie.
Youre something of an outsider, coming in to make a film about an Asian myth.
I was invited in.
So you go into it with respect and [are] open to learn.
And I knew how a 12-year-old American girl would take that gift.
Thered be some way of communicating that.
So I talked to the artists in China and they said, Oh, no, no.
The respect of generation somebody older is so deep, you would never give that anything other than respect.
It would be sincere and pure.
So she takes that [gift] and we animate it, and she bows very deeply.
I said, So what do you guys think?
And they said, No, no.
She wouldnt do that.
I said, Well, what?
I thought I was doing it well.
They said, Yeah.
So we went back and redid it.
So theres a lot of fine-tuning.
Is that the kind of situation in which you thrive?
Was that something you tried to create in this process?No.
Feel free to be as frank as possible.I naturally am a very collaborative person.
I mean, I just really, really want to know how this is going.
Youve got to direct with an open hand, saying, Help me.
Is that really going to happen?
Why do I feel lost now?
And, of course, onOver the Moon, that moment happened as well.
A story-guru executive came in, and I sat for a good hour with her.
She had said to Melissa, Well, Im going to blow up this film.
So she proceeded to tell me why this movie would not work.
And somewhere in there I realized,Oh, this is when the movie changes directors.
This is that fork in the road.And I really believe the path that Im going.
I like the movie that Im making.
Melissa Cobb afterward said, Well, that went well.
I said, It did?
She said, You are stronger than ever that this is the path you want to go.
Thats exactly what we need.
That was so refreshing.
Im always interested in how expressive animated faces can be, even though the designs might seem simple.
Theres the cheekbone, an incredibly important part.
And those become the points that are solid, and everything else flexes from that.
But besides this intelligence theres also this faith; she can see what others cant see.
So theres a hope.
When I think of hope, its the lower eyelids squeezing up.
How does that translate in an Asian eye?
What happens to that beautiful curve?
Theres a double eyelid that takes place there.
Its so appealing and beautiful.
And looking in the mirror.
I would practice with my wife.
So Id slowly lift my eyelid just a little bit.
Shed go, Why are you making that face?
I was like, You saw it.
And I had thought,Somethings not right.
He cant go into the dark.
And then it just envelops him.
I thought [at the time],Wow.
I hope Kobe doesnt mind, but it feels like Im saying Kobes going to heaven here.
Hes dying and hes leaving this world.
But I realized how the message of that film was really a wonderful encapsulation of who he was.
He was such a gentle, quiet guy.
Was Audrey Wells able to seeOver the Moonbefore she passed away?We showed her the first screening.
Because its all there.
And as soon as I mentioned that to her, her eyes lit up.
We were talking about theWizard of Ozand how that movie was a wonderful model.
And Audrey says, No, it isnt.
Its not a dream.
I said, Okay.
She goes to Oz.
No, it isnt.
No, it wasnt.
Do you think it was?
I said, Yeah.
She said, No.
So we had this argument.
And I could see in her eyes this childlike faith ofNo, its real.
It has to be real.
Were going to let the audience fall one side or the other on that.
I want to talk a little bit about your time at Disney.
You were supposed to directTangled.
This is really exciting.
And it really, truly was.
But it was pushing the needle away from, maybe, mainstream Disney.
I mean, it was a good film.
It was so much about this love and healing.
It really had so much depth to it.
All I can say is that I loved that movie.
But I felt like I grew in a lot of ways as a director through that.
Because I was out there working on it for probably five years before that happened.
So your version of the film was fairly far along.
Does it exist in any form anywhere?It does, on some DVDs that Ive got spirited away.
Do you think theres any chance wed see that version at some point?I dont know.
But, no, I have to respect Disneys choice on that.
Thats who they are.
I could not figure out how to do a sweeping action.
I thought I was single-handedly going to destroy Disneys reputation.
I was 20 years old.
Id been hearing all along that the key to Disney animation wassincerity and Id been sincerely trying to animate.
I mean, pencils were constantly breaking.
But I was literally trying to animate with sincerity.
So I went in and knocked at the door.
I say, Eric, I cant figure out this scene.
Im trying to animate the sweeping action.
And I thought he was going to give me some formula for that kind of an action.
But he said, Well, Glen, what kind of a guy is Bernard?
And I said, I dont know.
What do you mean?
Well, does he want to do a good job?
I said, Well, yeah, I guess.
He said, Of course he does.
Thats the kind of a guy he is.
He wants to clean up every speck of dust off the floor, dont you think?
I mean, dont you think he puts his whole heart and soul into what hes doing?
And he just started talking about Bernard like he knew who he was.
And the sincerity is to believe, like Eric does, in this character.
That was the beginning of that whole career for me believing in the characters that you animate.
You were right there in the middle of things during the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s.
There was hardly any time since he had passed away.
There was very much this sense of the way Walt wouldve done it.
Michael Eisner and Roy Disney came in to regain control of the company.
They moved into the animators offices and all the animators moved out, boxes of stuff in their hands.
And it was like being forced to move out of home.
Ron Clements had written this script,The Little Mermaid.
At first Michael had said, No, we already didSplash.
We dont need that.
It was the return of a fairy tale.
It was the return of who you are.
So, going back to that fairy tale was life-changing for us.
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken coming in and bringing music.
It was watering our real roots again.
The characters that you were responsible for as an animator at Disney are so varied in style and design.
You never just did one specific jot down of character.
Weight of spirit, weight of energy, physical weight.
But then I heard Jodi Benson sing Part of Your World [forLittle Mermaid].
I was supposed to do Ursula because I was doing the bigger characters.
I just thought,Oh, whoa.
That is the brightest light.
I got to animate that.
And thats pretty much whats been driving me since.
I mean, that guy was so true to my growing up as a teenager.
I put my heart and soul into creating that guy.
No one went to see it.
I have to say, its one of the most beautifully animated films.
There was this authenticity to Silver that I thought was really remarkable.
Id never done anything like that.
It was so real and spontaneous.
It was like improv, what we were doing on that film.
