In a year thats given us a couple of surprise animated hits, perhapsGnomeo & Julietis the least likely.
To mark that fact, we got the chance to chat with its director, Kelly Asbury.
Is that one of the ramifications you were looking for?
I always hoped that in some way any movie I work on brings something new to everyones life.
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I thought Baz Luhrmann had shaken up theRomeo & Julietstory back in 1996.
But I dont think even he went as far as garden gnomes and Elton John!
Its a cliched question, for which I apologise, but how did it all come about?
I wasnt around when it first came together.
Ive been on the project about five years.
Prior to that itd been in development at Disney for some time.
They pitched the idea, and Ive no idea where they came up with the idea.
Then, I think Elton decided that it would be fun to write music for this.
And it took a while for that idea to evolve.
Because I think that Elton John and Bernie Taupin are known for their love songs, more than anything.
And I think that their love songs were appropriate forRomeo & Juliet.
Yeah, Im really proud of the score.
James Newton Howard and Chris Bacon worked very hard, while also incorporating their original tunes.
To be able to incorporate and blend in the Elton John melodies, they were quite ingenious with it.
Im still amazed at the subtleties they managed to command.
Musically, Im very proud of the film.
Were you surprised by the films overall success?
It always was a bit of a wild card.
Thats an understatement surely!
We really didnt know.
In America certainly, people know what garden gnomes are.
The fact that its been received and found an audience as it has, has been more than gratifying.
Its been the high point of my career, really.
It sounds like you decamped your life geographically and professionally for a couple of years to make the film?
I moved to London, I was there for two years.
Then I was in Toronto for about a year.
And then we went back to London for post-production.
I really got a sense of British life.
And our movie needed sun!
Thats why we set it in Stratford, thats why our cast is primarily British.
We wanted to maintain the grounding in England.
I certainly got that sense with the voice casting.
They give out royal honours over here for things like that.
[Laughs] You know, with Jason, I really wanted to do the unexpected in the movie.
We had a really fun time in the recording studio with him.
Id work with him again in a moment.
I thought that pushed it quite a lot for a film withGnomeo & Juliets target audience.
We certainly treaded very carefully on that.
It was a balancing act.
I think, you mention the target audience.
I dont approach my movies with a target audience in mind.
The decision on this one, early on, was to make it light-hearted.
Thats something I always tried to stick to, while still caring about the characters.
Animation tends to have several different writers who serve different functions.
Its the policy at Disney, for instance, in deciding who gets credit.
It depends on the writers contract, so many things.
And we did have a lot of different decisions to make.
We didnt shy away from giving credit where it was due.
On an animated film, that must be heavily magnified.
And this is also your first solo project?
So how do you manage that?
In animation, theres not a medium I believe thats more collaborative.
It is a team of people, of different disciplines, coming together.
The decisions are made by consensus in many cases.
I sometimes have to put aside things I like, and animation demands that.
Because I have brought together a group of people who are hired to do their job well.
You have to all come to a consensus as to what is the best thing.
The director of an animated film has to have taste.
And hopefully I exercised taste.
But if you have the right support group, you make the right decision.
That includes Andrew Stanton, too.
I watch and take a little bit of a lesson from all of these people.
Certainly Im interested in that.
I dont know that I will, Im looking into all sorts of possibilities right now.
I think that everything I do will have an animation aspect.
Its hard to say.
Im reading all sorts of scripts, and have ideas of my own.
Its hard to say, but I love films.
I love to make films and tell stories.
Im one of those who thinks right now were going through a golden age of animation.
Likewise, Universal goes to France to makeDespicable Me.
And youre up, too, against massive studios.
It strikes me withGnomeothat youre the independent.
Youre setting up an animation team from scratch.
Not just the film, but bringing together the people to make it.
There was certainly an aspect to this movie that was different to others.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
You look atGnomeo & Juliet,andRango, andRio.
Its an amazing time right now.
And the live action films that are successful involve so much animation now.
Its a fantastic world to be playing in.
When you get to the animation phase, you are thoroughly planned.
You dont have a lot of retakes.
Certainly the planning stage does contribute largely.
In live action, it would make them take a long time.
I will make this statement.
Despicable Mecost around $70m I understand, by being made in Europe.
Gnomeo & Julietcost around $70m, too.
Its a benefit, I guess, that the English language animation industry is becoming decentralised from California?
And in a way, thats a sad thing.
Ill give you an example.Tangledcost $260m to make!
Domestically its been a huge hit, its made a lot of money worldwide.
In America, its made $199m.
Theres this sort-of unfortunate feeling among some people that it didnt make its money back.
And its ridiculous, because any film that makes that much money is a hit.
IfTangledcould have been brought in for half the cost, and it could have been…
It really is studio overheard.
Maybe thats where the computer should come in?
Theyve pushed the visual look of animation.
But the tools that were used to makeToy Story 2, even, are accessible to far more people.
That might have a ramification there?
I think youll see a trend towards that in the coming years.
I certainly would never say I wouldnt go back.
I love the movie Spirit, Im very proud of it.
I always will be.
I think that if the story is good, people will come.
And I think its all about that.
I would do hand drawn again if it was appropriate to the story being told.
But I appreciate what you say aboutSpirit.
Kelly Asbury, thank you very much.
Gnomeo & Julietis out on DVD and Blu-ray now andavailable from the Den Of Geek Store.