While in Los Angeles for the Alice Through the Looking Glass premiere event, I had the opportunity to sit down with the producer of Zootopia, Clark Spencer and the directors, Rich Moore and Byron Howard. And while we all loved Zootopia, it was very interesting talking to them about their post-Zootopia release experience, their reflections, and audience reactions. And we had a little fun too, as we discussed what Zootopia citizens we would be.
Rich Moore, Byron Howard, & Clark Spencer photo credit: Jana Seitzer/Merlotmommy.com
One of my favorite animated films to come out in 2016 was Zootopia. Our family has actually seen it twice in the theaters. So you can imagine what an honor it was for me to sit down with the gentlemen who were in charge of making the film. After hearing about the multi-year process just to come up with the storyline, before animation and voice talent even came in, I was amazed to learn just how much work an animated movie takes. And it was a unique experience to sit down with them as they discussed what it is like after the film’s release – the reflections they had on the process and their reactions to the audiences’ reactions.
Here’s a little background on the 3 of them…..
Clark Spencer is a film producer best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He’s producer of well-known animated movies such as Lilo & Stitch, Bolt, Winnie the Pooh and Wreck-It Ralph, and most recently, Zootopia.
Rich Moore is a film and television animation director, and is well known as one of the original directors of The Simpsons, which he won an Emmy for his work there. His first Disney film to direct was Wreck-It Ralph and he most recently co-directed Zootopia.
Byron P. Howard is a film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is best known as the co-director of Bolt, Tangled, and Zootopia.
photo credit: Jana Seitzer/MerlotMommy.com
Zootopia’s Clark Spencer, Rich Moore, & Byron Howard
Rich Moore began our time with him discussing the reflection they have all had on Zootopia now that they movie has proven to be such a success:
As far as our involvement with it and promoting it, it’s a reflective time now. It feels great that this movie that we worked so hard on, that we believed in, that the studio looked at and said this is an important film, has been embraced so lovingly by the audience and the characters that we were very close to for.
We’ve fallen in love with our characters and to see the rest of the world, not just the US but right now in Japan, there are ladies in the audience that are like ‘Nick would be such a great boyfriend, I’m in love with Nick.’ And it’s really cool that people are seeing the things that we love about the movie, too.
[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”auto” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]And it’s really cool that people are seeing the things that we love about the movie, too.[/dropshadowbox]
Byron Howard continues with his thoughts on Zootopia’s success & the importance of creating a movie that has a long-lasting effect:
It just goes beyond us so quickly. We spend a long time with ourselves in rooms just talking about these ideas and hope they will catch on. Even the fact that zootopia is a word, it’s not just a thing. It was a weird word before that we made it up and now it’s a thing that people know.
We know that these things stay around forever which goes way beyond us and so we try to be very responsible about what movies are saying. And also about the qualities of the characters because we fall in love with the characters just as much as we hope the audience will. We try to put as much as we can of ourselves and what we love about our families and the world into these movies that people can relate and find something common no matter where they go. And going around the world was really educational for us because we just go to watch many, many different nationalities of people fall in love with the movie in different ways and that was really rewarding for us.
Zootopia In-Home Global Press Event
I have had several conversations with others about Zootopia being a scary movie and it was great to be a able to ask them about their thoughts on this issue. Did they think that it was scary? Are Disney movies getting to be too scary?
Howard: I think we were surprised. We thought it was actually great that we were talking about subjects that were so difficult because there’s always so much stuff in the news about bias. I think we like that Disney can deal with real life emotions, things you’d experience. It’s going back to Bambi and Lion King. They were very mature ideas but in the way they were presented it’s something that is almost like a rite of passage seeing these movies. The Lion King was great with the families, allowing them to talk to their children about death and I think the same way with Zootopia. What we’d hoped is that it’s such a tricky subject to talk about bias but in crafting it in a way that the story isn’t a message movie but it comes to the experience of the characters. You can relate to what Judy’s going through, you can relate to her struggle that people will find a way to relate to that within themselves.
We’ve gotten so much positive feedback from people who have seen the film, men and women who relate to Judy and to Nick about different struggles in their own lives, and it’s really rewarding for us to see that connection with people in a real way. So I think we always want to make entertaining films but if it’s not about something real, if it’s not about something that really affects people then we’re not doing our job.
[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”auto” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]So I think we always want to make entertaining films but if it’s not about something real, if it’s not about something that really affects people then we’re not doing our job.[/dropshadowbox]
We’re not gonna make a movie where we’re constantly trying to scare the audience over and over again. We will always temper it with a joke. I think that’s important because there can be scary moments but as long we put the audience, especially the younger people in the audience back together again, before we finish the film, I think that’s a good thing because then you come out of that theatre feeling like wow, I have been on a journey, but I made it back safe and I feel better about the world now.
One of our favorite characters in the movie, Gazelle, is played by international superstar Shakira. But she had more than just a desire to make a great song for the movie, she could herself connected to the project as well, as Producer Clark Spencer explains:
We talked about it really early when the Gazelle character first came up, we kind of were thinking of her {Shakire} just as wouldn’t it be funny to have a pop star who’s very popular in this world. Shakira came and talked to us and she was very nice. She listened to the pitch of the movie and we learned from meeting her in person how she’s very, very down to earth and very real and super intelligent. She speaks six languages.
She’s very socially aware and even in that one meeting where we just spent an hour with her, our opinion of what that character should be changed and we started to think about Gazelle as now being a sort of a social symbol for the city representing everything that’s great, everything that Judy expects the city to be when she gets there.
One thing that we learned later on when we were recording with her in Barcelona, was that she told us she related to Judy because in Columbia where she grew up, she wanted to be a cop as a little girl. She saw people being bullied and things happening around her that she wanted to correct and so there was something in her that was kind of meant to be in the movie and that’s remarkable when a voice talent and someone who can bring great music to a film but also have that sort of personal connection.
Moore continues: And you can tell that one went deep. When she said I was just like Judy as a little girl because I hate bullies. I hated seeing criminals taking advantage of good people. I really wanted to do good in the world. I really get this character. When a voice talent, a partner is kind of diving that deep, you know, only good can come of this.
If you could be one of the characters which one would you want to be?
Spencer: That’s a question we get a lot. It changes day to day. I feel like Flash. I don’t know what it is because we’ve been talking about Zootopia for a while so I feel like everyone else is kind of up to speed. I think it’s a Flash day.
Moore : I always go back to Judy. I think both of us feel a lot. We talk about how we can relate to Judy a lot. I love Nick. I’m not as cool as Nick. I wish I could be as cool as Nick but Judy, there’s something about her that I love what she’s about. I love that she’s driven and there’s something kind of corny and optimistic. I’m a very optimistic person in general so I think there’s something about her that I really dig.
When we got Gennifer (Goodwin) to come and play her at first we were sort of writing Judy as a cowboy. She was sort of like a cowboy cop where she’s like a maverick. There’s something that wasn’t feeling quite right. We thought, why don’t we pay attention more to what Gennifer is really like because Gennifer has this great fire to her but she’s very pure of heart and she brings that to her Snow White role. She was like that with, you know, the Big Love role and there was something about her that just felt like that would land better. That’s when you got the Judy that you see in the movie and that’s a lot of Gennifer. That’s a lot of her bringing her own chemistry to that. I love that kind of, kind of positive fire that she has.
Howard : I’m gonna be Clawhauser. He is such a great warm character that is played for laughs in the film which is what I love and Nate (Torrence) is such a funny guy. But then there’s that great scene where Judy walks up to him and says, ‘what are you doing Claws’ and he talks about the fact that he’s being moved. That scene I always find to be one of the most emotional ones in the movie. I remember when Nate came in to record it and he’s a standup comedian. He just took to that emotional place so perfectly and you could feel it immediately. I’ve always loved that character ‘cause I think it’s the unexpected for the audience. They think oh, this is the fun character that’s very loveable and they don’t see coming this part where we’re really setting it up so you love him in a way that you’re gonna feel horrible when this moment happens.
We ended our session with a quick animation lesson with Byron Howard. I thought I would be terrible drawing a Zootopia character freehand, but with him walking us step-by-step, it didn’t turn out too bad! Drawing is fun!
Zootopia Blu Ray is Available Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Other Articles from the Alice Through the Looking Glass & Zootopia Blu-ray Event you may enjoy:
My Alice Through the Looking Glass Red Carpet Premiere Experience
Get to Know Alice’s Mia Wasikowski
5 Reasons Why Alice Through the Looking Glass is Better than Alice in Wonderland
Exclusive Interview with Suzanne Todd, Producer of Alice Through the Looking Glass
Zootopia’s Clark Spencer, Rich Moore, & Byron Howard
9 Things You Didn’t Know About Zootopia
Exclusive Interview with James Bobin, Director of Alice Through the Looking Glass
Disclaimer: Disney sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of the in-home Zootopia movie release. All opinions are my own.
