Toon Tuesday: “Mars Needs Moms” Simon Wells has his priorities well in order

Jim Hill

14 years ago

I was on the phone with Simon Wells last Friday morning as
those first post-quake / tsunami images were coming in from Japan. And as the
director of Disney's "Mars Needs Moms" put it:

"Here in Hollywood, everyone seems obsessed with how much
your movie cost to make or how much your movie made over its opening weekend.
But it's at moments like this – when you see this sort of devastation — that
make you realize that things like production costs and grosses ultimately don't
matter much. Right now, I just feel blessed that my wife and I and our children
are together, that we're someplace safe and that everyone's whole and happy."

One hopes that Wells was able to keep this healthy sense of
perspective alive as the weekend wore on and news of "Mars Needs Moms"
disappointing box office performance began rolling in.

But when Simon and I spoke on Friday, he was full of fun
stories about what it was like to work with Robert Zemeckis. How excited Wells
was to making a movie with the man who had made Simon's absolute favorite film, 1985's
"Back to the Future."

"Wendy and I pitched two very different versions of 'Mars
Needs Mars' to Zemeckis. And Robert's initial reaction was 'Eh,' and 'Not so
much,' " Wells explained. "Finally he told us 'Look, stop pitching me the movie
that you think I want make and start telling me about your movie. The one that
you want to make.' It was that version of this story, the one which stressed all
of the adventures that a 9 year-old boy might have if he went to Mars, that
Zemeckis eventually signed off on."

And Simon … He had nothing by praise for the folks that he
worked with ImageMovers Digital's production facility up in Marin County, CA.
on "Mars Needs Moms."

(L to R) Simon Wells, Wendy Wells, Jack Rapke. Middle row (left to right): Seth
Green,
Joan Cusack, Elisabeth Harnois, Dan Fogler (second from right). Photo by Joseph
Lederer. Copyright ImageMovers Digital, LLC. All rights reserved

"We really benefitted from the fact that – prior to the
start of our project – this group had just finished working on 'Disney's A Christmas Carol.,' " Wells continued. "So that – by the time we started working
on 'Mars Needs Moms' – this was a really cohesive team that could handle every technical
& storytelling challenge that we threw their way."

As for Disney's decision to pull the plug on this
state-of-the-art production facility this time last year, Simon was somewhat
philosophical.

"Decisions like that are made above my pay grade," Simon
said. "Besides, I've worked in animation all of my life. So I'm used to studios
suddenly opening and closing. I remember back in the 1980s when I working for
Richard Williams. We were the animation studio that did most of the work on
'Roger Rabbit.' And the Disney executives told us that 'We love what you've
done. You did such high quality work on Roger Rabbit that we're going to keep
this studio up and running. We're going to find new films for you guys to work
on.' And within a year, the place was closed. Mind you, it was nothing
personal. That's just the way things are in the animation business."

That said, Wells still sounds like someone who values the
friendships that he forged while working on "Mars Needs Moms."

"I especially enjoyed the day that Berkley Breathed and his
wife came on the set. We were shooting the scene that's really the emotional
heart of his book," Simon remembered. "And it meant a lot to me that Berkley really
seemed to approve of the way we were handling this moment in his story."

Speaking of which … Without spoiling the story of this movie
… Well, let's just say that – whenever this scene was shown in theaters while
"Mars Needs Moms" was being previewed – Wells was thrilled with the reaction
that this moment got from movie-goers. How this tense hush would then fall over
the audience, as they wondered what would happen next.

"It's at moments like that, when the actors have given you a
great performance to work with, and then the technicians and the animators can take
that scene and really enhance the emotions of that moment — which then creates this truly memorable moment
in your motion picture — that you realize what a great film-making technique
performance capture is," Simon states. "With live action, you always have to
worry if you got all the necessary coverage. And animation just takes so long.
But with performance capture, you never have to worry about camera angles. More
importantly, you can get a sense of whether or not what you just shot works almost immediately. Which then allows you
to fine-tune your performances. Tell your actors if they need to go bigger or
dial things back a bit."

Speaking of actors, Wells had high praise for Seth Green,
Joan Cusack and the rest of his "Mars Needs Moms" cast. Especially given how
daunting those first few days of shooting on a performance capture motion
picture can be.

"You see your actors come on set with dots all over their
faces, dressed in these skin-tight costumes that are more like diving suits
than anything else, with all these miniature cameras pointed up their noses.
And you can just see them reaching for their cell phones, so that these actors
can then beg their agents to get them off of this picture," Simon laughed. "But
after a few days of shooting, the actors come to love performance capture. They
love how freeing this film-making format is."

And Wells would clearly love to make another performance
capture movie. But on the heels of "Mars Needs Moms" opening weekend … Well,
one wonders if that sort of opportunity will be coming Simon's way again
anytime soon.

But that said … Based on our phone conversation this past
Friday, I'd say that Wells has his priorities well in order. Given that Simon
talked about how the work he does (i.e. directing motion pictures) compared in
importance to what Wells' brother (who works in gene therapy as part of the
team that's trying to find a cure for duchenne muscular dystrophy) does.

"What my brother's working on will actually save people's
lives. Me? I just entertain people," Simon concluded. "Of course, if you
multiply what I do by thousands of screens and millions of people, I guess that
— when you entertain that many people on that sort of scale – then a piece of
entertainment really does start to mean something. But this whole Hollywood
mindset – where movies are the end all and be all of everything – especially in
the face of what people like my brother are doing and what's going on in Japan
today … Well, it all seems kind of silly."

Your thoughts?