AWN Oscar Travelogue

Screenings Come to a Close at ICM

oscartour — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:17:32 +0000

With a late 5 o’clock screening at ICM, many of the nominees couldn’t make it to the Q&A. Peter and the Wolf producer Hugh Welchman, Madame Tutli-Putli producer Marcy Page and her exec producer David Verrall were able to meet the agents. I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin and his producer Jerry Levitan arrived right after the agents left because they went to the old ICM address by mistake.

I caught Hugh in the lobby and finally got to ask him about his conversation with Brad Bird at Pixar. Hugh said that they had a nice chat about what they liked about each other’s films. Hugh also said that as a WGA member Bird hadn’t been working lately because he wasn’t crossing the writers strike picket lines. In another star sighting, Hugh went to a glitzy party the night before and got to meet Quentin Tarantino. Josh told me that he heard Sean Lennon saw his film and said that he loved it and that it made him cry. Josh added that when you think of John Lennon as someone’s dad it puts a whole new perspective on his film.

After the screening, the agents were very impressed with this year’s nominees. The questions covered many of the typical questions. David explained how the human eyes were done on the puppets in Madame Tutli-Putli. Marcy told them that the film took four years to complete, while Hugh said it took the same amount of time to make his film. When the agents cringed at the time it takes, tour host Ron Diamond said, “Animation is a painful process and this brings it to a new low.” Hugh added that he would have liked more time to finish Peter, but they had already sold out the Royal Albert Hall for the premiere and they wanted to continue working in the U.K., so they had to keep the debut date.

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Oscar Showcase 08 Pixar Photo Gallery

oscartour — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:52:20 +0000

During our visit at Pixar we shot a great deal of wonderful pics with Pixar characters and employees, including Brad Bird and Ed Catmull.

I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin, Even Pigeons Go to Heaven director Sam Tourneux, Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis and Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite pose for a Pixar pic. © 2008 AWN Inc.

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Nominees Have A Date with Brad Bird, Ed Catmull & The Rest of Pixar’s Staff

oscartour — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:50:47 +0000

Like last year, a pattern of the same questions being asked at the various screenings continues. Of course the first question was to Chris and Maciek about the human eyes on the puppets in Tutli-Putli. Marcy said one of the difficulties of working with the eyes was timing out shots. Chris and Maciek found that the performance via the eyes sold some scenes quicker than when it was cut using the eyeless puppets. Josh was asked about the audio footage of John Lennon used in his film, which he said had never really been heard before they made I Met the Walrus. A first for the tour, but most likely not a first for the Madame Tutli-Putli team was about their enigmatic ending. Maciek explained that the intention of the film was less about plot and more like a poem where one scene doesn’t dictate the next, but informs the preceding scene. Chris added that the work of Carl Jung was also influential in setting the mood for the film. A little tidbit about the title is that in Hindi it means puppet, as well as delicate woman, which is a fact that the directors did not know before they were informed of it by a Hindi speaking member of one of their audiences.

After the studio screening, Pixar treated the nominees to lunch with some of the studio’s directors including For the Birds‘ Ralph Eggleston; Brenda Chapman, writer of Cars and the director of an upcoming Pixar feature that will be announced soon; and Gary Rydstrom, a veteran of the Oscar tour from last year with the film Lifted. Gary told us he’s currently working on a feature as a director based on an idea he pitched.

Roger Gould also joined us and chatted with Chris about managing the creative process by experimenting. Chris said that their first hand drawn rendition of Madame Tutli-Putli was not good, so they brought in actors and workshopped the script, shooting it from every angle. Roger mentioned that one of the challenges on Ratatouille was the script change midway, which added new sets such as the farmhouse sequence that begins the movie. He also said that at Pixar they try to focus their features on personal stories and that The Incredibles and Ratatouille are very much Brad Bird as a guy trying to do something he loves, but isn’t allowed to. Speaking of Brad Bird, he was true to his promise and dropped by to chat with the nominees as did Ed Catmull. Both took time out of their busy Oscar schedules to spend real time talking with the animated shorts nominees.

Check back later to find out what Brad Bird and Ed Catmull had to say to the nominees.

This site is a member of Animation blogspot, part of the Animation World Network