Heres how our conversation went.

Before you gotSingstarted, it looks like you were doing lots of things to tee it up.

I didnt know thats what we were doing.

Youd get 90% of the way with something and that would domino the whole project.

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Those adverts were more to do with doing fully animated characters.

We did the job anyway, regardless of the fact that it turned out to be useful.

I wasnt planning anything with animals at the time, it was a completely different project.

I remember the UK Film Council jumped in with some cash…

We had something.

Did you seeSing Street?

I really loved it.

Has this set you up as an Illumination man now?

I dont know what theyre doing on other projects.

Ironic, maybe, when you did in-studio consultation and rewrites onHow to Train Your Dragonon Dreamworks.

I did just a bit at the beginning, before the writers and directors who didDragonactually came on.

Were you possibly warming it up for yourself at that point?

I literally did it as a writing project.

Id never written for somebody else like that before.

I really enjoyed it, and found what they were doing in Dreamworks really interesting.

Oh, these huge, gigantic productions, these catering facilities, lakes, rivers, and games rooms.

Id never seen anything like it before.

It was a campus.

Did that experience help you when you came to work with Illumination?

At the time it made me not want to do it that way!

It made me want to pull things back.

This felt like there was an awful lot of infrastructure to keep afloat.

Our model has always been lean our office was on a boat!

It wasnt exactly opulent, it was cosy but it was exactly what we needed.

We just wanted to make a lot of stuff, be free to make stuff.

I think keeping things as lean as you might gives you a lot of artistic freedom.

A CG animated film is a big beast.

I didnt know when I met Chris Ill be doing this now.

I just thought Ill write them a story.

I loved the premise, and I loved the chance to work with Chris so I just started writing.

All I knew is that two major loves of my life, two projects, had not taken off.

It genuinely exhausted me to admit failure.

Being married with four kids, I was like I have to make this stuff work.

It felt almost impossible for a while.

Lets see what happens.

And even then I didnt know how long it would take.

Now youve been through all of that, is it Once bitten, twice shy?

I feel more excited about making things than ever.

And Id love, at some point, to have another go at animation.

I really bloody loved it.

Not in this one.

You make the film five, six, seven times in different forms.

I felt like, when we finished the film, it was the film I wanted to make.

We did two previews to see if it was working and both times the response was phenomenal.

It does do that, actually, yeah.

Dont use the hundred mil lens until now and suddenly, that close-up is impactful.

A lot of the things you learn on a set do apply to animation.

At the same time, can you think of any good examples of how you bent things?

Right at the beginning, when we went off the rails and the camera could go anywhere.

I wanted to use the freedom to zoom about from one character to another.

Nothing here is tailor made for animals, they just happen to occupy the same space as us.

How about the little river running down the steps?

Thats stuff where you think How do fish get to work?

I didnt want a special fish elevator.

It would get in the way of the film.

But I have to say, early on in the writing, I was completely into that.

I was thinking They have iceberg houses and all that sort of stuff.

Thank god we didnt go that route because thats exactly whereZootopiawent.

There must be piles of concept art for this stuff…?

Theres an embarrassing amount of beautiful work.

How did this story click for you and you knew you had it?

There are two answers.

When youre making a multiple character storyline, when you have six stories, its a real juggle.

So then we had a new set of problems… how do you keep it?

I didnt realise how hard it would be to protect something that works.

You feel like Colour it in, were done boys!

They keep touching it!

Then the animators put the breathing into it, the eyes that betray the voice, all that stuff.

The last year was nuts and fraught but also just joyous.

Going down to animation rounds in the afternoon, down in this dark bunker, was magical.

Whenever any shot was approved wed burst into applause.

It was very emotional, much more than I thought it would be.

People say its very technical, but its really very human, the technical stuff is just tools.

Even the recording sessions were very playful and direct.

Youve only got one person there so its really full on.

Theyre like really enthusiastic blind dates.

You hardly know each other but Lets do this!

I think people would love to read it.

ItsThe Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugarwritten by Roald Dahl.

When I read it when I was thirteen it just baked into my brain.

I have not stopped thinking about since I first read it.

With this, its about what you could with it, the promise of it.

And you know exactly what you would do with it?

This is the infuriating thing.

I know exactly what to do.

It was heartbreaking to stop and Id have to regather myself again to go back to it.

I honestly havent revisited this.

Its too much to think about.

So, for a warm up, back to ads and music videos between movies?

And I look forward to it, whatever it is.

Thank you again, Garth Jennings.

Singis in UK cinemas from Friday.