Tale of Despereaux - Gary Ross, Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen
Writer/producer Gary Ross joined directors Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen as well as composer William Ross and 'The Tale of Despereaux' author Kate DiCamillo on the red carpet for the film's World Premiere in Hollywood.
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Transcript: Tale of Despereaux - Gary Ross, Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of The Tale of Despereaux.
The Tale of Despereaux Writer/Producer Gary Ross, Director Rob Stevenhagen and Director Sam Fell
Why this style of animation?Gary Ross: "I think you want to feel like you've just seen the greatest kids illustrations in the world, the same way you feel when you open one of those books. We owed it to them, I think, to feel as if they just read a wonderful classic fairy tale. And that demands something different than a lot of CG animation."
Rob Stevenhagen: "I think also the idea to make something that is very sincere and believable, you kind of arrive in this kind of very subtle, sophisticated style of animation. It was kind of what we were really trying to get."
Is it true that you literally just finished this up?
Sam Fell: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's been such a challenge because it is so different. Everything we've done, we've done it differently so we've been breaking new ground, which has been kind of scary. Each time we get to a new department it's different. So we only just made it."
Gary Ross: "The color timing was finished last week."
Sam Fell: "But I think the audience are getting a whole lot more because of it. I think it's a very generous movie, actually, for the audiences."
How daunting is it bringing a book that's loved by so many people to the screen?
Gary Ross: "Well, I mean the first thing you want to do is capture the spirit of what the author tried to do, and the fact that Kate loves this so much is something that makes us all the happiest. It isn't so much that you need to be literal to the book, but you need them to feel the same things they felt when they read it. The tone has to be the same. The characters have to be the same. And what lingers with you has to be the same."
Sam Fell: "And Kate said that it's a compliment to her book. That you could see the movie first and then read the book afterwards and you would still love it. And that's a very big compliment – and she came here today as well."
You guys actually let some of your actors work in the booth together?
Gary Ross: "Yeah. You know, I've done a lot of live action movies in which we've done this. We talked about it and realized, 'Well, there's no reason you can't do this just because it hasn't been done before.' I've recorded a lot of sound in my life with booms following actors, so we brought all that into an ADR stage. We actually had props. Dustin [Hoffman] had a sword at one point."
And was there a food fight too?
Gary Ross: "Yes. Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci ended up – method actors that they are – ended up flinging food at each other. I have to say I encouraged them a little bit, but yeah, they did."
You didn't get involved in it though?
Gary Ross: "I ducked."
What do you hope audiences who haven't read the book are going to walk away thinking about this?
Rob Stevenhagen: "The story's about so many things, a lot about all the virtues really an old fairy tale gives. And of course above all it's about forgiveness. I think that's a very strong message."
Gary Ross: "It's a very hopeful movie, and the book was a very hopeful book. And I think it's one of the reasons that the book surprised so many people in how successful it was. It's not cynical, and kids and parents love that. If we've honored that, and I guess Kate feels we have, then we're fortunate."
The Tale of Despereaux Composer William Ross
What are the particular challenges of doing a score for an animated film? Are they different than live action?William Ross: "Well, one big problem that you have is that you don't see the finished product until later. In fact, there's several scenes in the movie that we had done - I'd composed and we'd said, 'Yes, this is great' – and when we got the final footage in we looked at it and we said, 'You know what? I think we can go back and tweak this.' So we ended up doing that. There was a scene in Mouseworld that we didn't even realize how significant the change from day to night would be. And the music that we had didn't really help that so we went back and changed that, and other scenes just like that."
The Tale of Despereaux Author Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo: "It is better than I imagined, you know? I'm a visual writer. I see it when I write it so I always have kind of like a picture in my head. But this is even better than the picture that was in my head."What do you think about the voices that they gave them because I'm sure you have voices in your head?
Kate DiCamillo: "I do not have voices. I'm not auditory that way so I didn't. This cast, I mean who could dream this cast up? So no, I'm thrilled with them. Everybody kind of like put their heart behind it and you can hear that and see it."
Where do you stand on the whole rats versus mice issue?
Kate DiCamillo: "Oh, I'm a mouse fan. You know, when you're faced with the mouse in the kitchen it's like impossible to do him in evil, but the rat you can see… Sorry. Sorry, Roscuro. Rats are hard."