Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Last December, I had the opportunity to visit the great state of Texas. The main reason for doing so was to visit DNA Productions, located in Irving, just outside of Dallas. At that time, the folks there were hard at work on a project for Warner Brothers and Playtone Productions.
That project? Bringing to life John Nickle’s award-winning children’s book, “The Ant Bully.” From the Amazon.com web pages for the title:
Lucas, who wears a goofy propeller cap and nerdish glasses, suffers the taunts of a tough kid named Sid. After Sid blasts him with a water hose, Lucas gets a squirt gun and does the same to a colony of ants. Alas, Lucas is no match for his would-be victims, who use a magical green potion to reduce him to their size and then sentence him to hard labor.
Once Lucas learns a lesson in community, the ants restore him to his original proportions, then devise a predictable comeuppance for his hose-toting nemesis (shrinkage, of course).
The book went on to become a favorite story, including many elementary school teachers who use it as a springboard for lessons in conflict resolution. One child of note who found the story enthralling was the son of Tom Hanks.
“My son came home from kindergarten with a book he had checked out from the library, John Nickle’s The Ant Bully,” Hanks recalled.“Reading it together, we weren’t halfway through before I thought it would make a wonderful movie. John Davis’ “Jimmy Neutron” had just come out then, and I felt the match of his talent with Nickle’s story would be perfect.”
From the film’s production notes comes more on how DNA Productions joined forces with Playtone:
“Tom sent me the The Ant Bully to see if I had a take on it,” recalls Davis, who likewise found the story full of potential for the screen.”I thought, well, if I was going to make this movie, here’s how I would approach it.”He soon met with Hanks and his producing partner Gary Goetzman, co-founders of Playtone Productions, who successfully teamed with Robert Zemeckis in 2004 on the beloved holiday film The Polar Express.
“It was obvious from our initial meeting that John’s enthusiasm, passion and vision for the material made him the perfect director for the project,” states Goetzman.”And because most children’s animated films today are branded by adult humor, it was refreshing to hear John’s take on creating an entertaining family film that would transport the audience to a unique world and take them on a fantastic adventure.”
Together the three brainstormed ideas on how to realize the action onscreen and bring out the natural wonder, humor and peril of a suddenly minuscule boy lost in the unfathomable wilds of his own yard.Everything takes on a surreal new identity when even a discarded soda can looms as large as a 3-story building to tiny Lucas; low-flying wasps rumble like turboprop engines, and hordes of unfamiliar creatures roam the tall grass all around him.
“It’s great when you’re immediately on the same page,” says Davis.”We saw the same things in it—the adventure aspect, the action, how cool it would be to have Lucas and the ants fighting giant wasps, and all the places he could go.In some ways, it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment for a kid.”
The theatrical one-sheet for the film
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
So, when the opportunity came up to visit DNA last year, I knew that it would be an interesting experience. Thanks to friends, I previously had been able to visit Pixar and Disney and see various projects in development. What I found at DNA was extremely reminiscent of those other visits, especially the days of Pixar in Point Richmond. There was a great deal of excitement and energy among the people I met. It was obvious that they were stretching the boundaries of their knowledge and experience in doing things they had done before. And that kind of atmosphere was evident from the top down.
Among the people I chatted with during my time in Irving were DNA’s founders, John Davis and Keith Alcorn. And yes, that’s how the company got its name: D and A.
In today’s installment, I want to share an interview with Keith Alcorn. But first a bit of history with his bio from the film’s production notes:
KEITH ALCORN (Executive Producer) has been involved in all facets of animation for over 25 years.In 1987, along with partner John A. Davis, he started DNA Productions, providing animation for the commercial, corporate and entertainment industries.
In 1997, Alcorn served as producer/lead character designer for the ABC animated Christmas special Santa vs. The Snowman.It was the first all-3D cartoon made for primetime.
That same year he served as director/designer for The Adventures of Fatman, an animated segment that appeared in the CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show.
Alcorn provided character design on steve.oedekerk.com, which aired on NBC in 1996.
For Roseanne’s Saturday Night Special, he designed and directed a series of animated comedic short films entitled The Spooners.In 1999, he produced the Emmy Award-nominated Olive, the Other Reindeer.He has also produced and directed several direct-to-video animated episodes of Jingaroo and his Crew.
Since 1991, Alcorn has served as creator of the ongoing animated series of shorts featuring Nanna & Lil’ Puss Puss, which have appeared on Comedy Central, Showtime and MTV.All this experience eventually lead to the realization of making an animated feature film, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
Alcorn recently wrapped up director/executive producer duties on the television series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, before beginning work on his second feature film, The Ant Bully.
Roger: As the Ant Bully is such a well respected, award winning children’s book, was there ever a point in the process of bringing it to the screen where the concepts expressed in that story got in the way of how the production was heading?
Keith: Not really – we were never intending to bring the book to life, but instead, use it to inspire the movie.
Roger: With Imax and 3D, the film goes to a new level for audiences. With Polar Express, it seemed that these processes allowed the artwork and designs from that book to come to life in the same graphic style of the book. With Ant Bully was that true as well, or did the action-adventure theme of the film story allow a bit more freedom to work with?
Keith: Actually we strayed wildly from the design of the original book. Although the book is wonderfully simple children’s tale, but the intention was never to let the style set forth in the book dictate what we produced for the big screen.
Roger: I had heard how the crew was continually having to head off to your local Imax theater every week for a morning of screenings of the past weeks work. Was this what lead to DNA having its own in-house Imax screening room?
Keith: Absolutely. This came out of necessity. If we were to produce the IMAX version of the film, we had to set up our own IMAX screening room for approval purposes. It lead to more immediate feedback.
Roger: Was there anything about Imax that allowed the film to make a technological advance that you had not anticipated?
Keith: Actually, I had no idea that the depth created by our artists was achievable. This is the most immersive IMAX film I’ve ever seen. I feel like the whole IMAX experience will draw them into the story in ways they can’t even imagine. I can’t wait to watch the IMAX presentation with an audience. I think they will have a blast.
Sweet rocks! Praise the Mother!
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Roger: As Executive Producer, was there a particular point in the production that presented you with a challenge that you thought was somewhat daunting?
Keith: It was an amazing opportunity, but animation production can be incredibly daunting and wonderfully rewarding. There were times when John and I were concerned about simply finishing the film on time. But our incredible crew pulled together and made it happen as if by magic.
Zoc and Lucas get to know each other better
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Roger: The film has a great list of names in the casting of voices. Was there anyone among them who surprised you with what they brought to their characters?
Keith: Well, Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell. Everything he does is simply “Bruce-tastic,” so that’s a given, but two other performances stand out to me as well.
Bruce Campbell provides the voice for Fugax, the scout
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Nic Cage was fantastic. He was so focused. He would ask John questions about a scene, psych himself up and then – BAM!! He blew through his lines like a tornado and gave outstanding performances. Incredibly intense and funny.
Nicholas Cage provides the voice of Zoc, the colony’s resident wizard
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Lily Tomlin was fascinating too. There were times that she seemed insecure about her selection for the part of Mommo. She would even recommend other actors that she felt might give a better performance. In the end she gave Mommo a personality that made her an audience favorite.
The Nickel family portrait
(L to R) Mommo, Dad, Lucas, Doreen and Tiffany
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Roger: Looking around DNA on my visit last December, I got the feeling that this was a very unique group of people working on the film. With many of them having done television animation, how big of a jump was it for them to a film that was so different from the Jimmy Neutron film? Was there a particular challenge for them that you feel they really succeeded beyond expectations?
Keith: For a lot of folks, the experience on the television series made them extremely fast and judicious artists. When they came over to the movie they actually had the opportunity to slow down a bit and spend more time tweaking and perfecting their shots. A luxury they never had on the TV show.
Audiences will have a chance to see the results of these efforts when the picture opens this coming Friday, July 28th. While some folks will look for comparisons to other animated projects with ants as their subjects, I think that you have to go back to the story that inspired this film to appreciate what makes it different from the others.
And in the next installment of this series, I’ll be doing just that as I interview the production’s Head of Story and Director of Digital Photography, Ken Mitchroney.