WEBVTT - Rob Marshall / "Mary Poppins Returns" 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:17.919 M h. You're listening to Playback, a Variety I Heart 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:21.759 Radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley. 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.520 This week, I'm talking to Oscar nominated director Rob Marshall. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.640 His new film Mary Poppins returns as the hotly anticipated 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.080 sequel to a Disney classic. We discussed the daunting task 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.800 of rejuvenating the property more than a half century later, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.479 and a whole lot more so. Sit tight, this is playback. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:08.040 Glamorous man. Oh my authority be okay, I'm actually fine. Sure, yeah, 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.119 I'm good. I'm good. Thanks, Thanks, I'm good. Long day, huh. 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.440 You know, it's it's okay though, because it still feels 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.080 kind of new, you know, we're still yeah, we're just 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.640 at the beginning and so I mean we just had 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.119 a fun press conference with the whole cast and our 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.040 writers and so that was it was just great to 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.839 see everybody. That's really nice. So you know that that's 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.040 the that's that's sort of like the plus side of things. 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.399 You know, you know you're doing this, but you get 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.440 to see all those people again that you had, you know, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.240 get dragged from hotel room to hotel room. It is 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.880 not going to be how you think you'll this is perfect, Okay, cool, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.840 all right, thank you, thank you, Chris, Yeah, thank you. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.160 We're up and running right, thank you. Here we are 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.680 with Rob Marshall, the director of Mary Poppins Returns, also 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.080 the writer. Yes, I wrote the first time, right that 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.360 you've written the script. I've never been a member of 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.960 the w g A or um and but this was 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:02.840 something I felt I needed to be part of the 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.920 writing process for. And so myself and John De Luca 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.160 and David McGee all wrote the story and then David 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.760 wrote the screenplay, which is so beautiful and so yeah, 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:13.560 you know what, I have to say that when you 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:18.040 do original musical, which I'd never done one for film before. Um, 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:20.240 the only way I feel it can be done is 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.240 if a director is involved, literally from the very beginning, 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.480 because you're shaping the whole piece, all of it. You know, 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.680 it's not just something that people go away and do. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.600 It has to be a real collaboration. Um. This is 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.720 such a complicated film in many ways because we're it's 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.440 this grand balancing act, as you know. So it was 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.760 the to to actually be part of the writing process, 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.799 which was a big part for me. Welcome to the 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.519 writer's ranks. Thank you, Thank you for doing the show. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.360 I really appreciate you to do with Thank you. I 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:51.840 saw the movie a few weeks ago at the PGA 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.480 screening actually on the lot. There was a nice one. Yeah, 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.560 superb movie caught me by surprise a little bit. I 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.400 don't really know what I was expecting, I guess, but 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.639 I just it's delightful. It felt like as was kind 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.120 of the rhetoric there, and and it's real. It feels 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.320 like something we kind of need at the moment. I mean, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.440 did you feel that in the making of it? I did. 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:16.040 I really felt. I mean, in a way the whole UM. 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.640 What guided me the entire time, the whole time was 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.160 this sense of what we were saying with this film. 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:27.200 What I was saying with this film because UM, this 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.959 idea that in a dark time there is a ray 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.120 of light that can come and help you move through 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:39.200 a darker time. UM was something that was very personal 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.960 to me. UM. I felt like you know when you 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.720 have UM a film. For instance, our film set in 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.520 the thirties of the depression eary in London, and it 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.560 felt very connected to me to today. I feel a 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.680 lot of people are struggling in life to make ends 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.760 me to you know, to bring up a family, and 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:05.640 and and and I also felt that this idea of loss, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.720 which is what our films about too, you know, the 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:13.000 loss of not only you're the wonder and joy that 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.760 you have as a child. You know, um, that loss 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.479 is also part of um you know, uh, something that 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.560 happens as you grow older. You know, you as you 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.560 get older, life comes in and you have to you know, 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.119 you put away those things. And and so that loss 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.640 compounded with this idea that there's a loss of the 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.760 of the mother. For instance, in this film, it was 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.040 about a family that needed to heal. And so you know, 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.800 I've sort of found my way um through this with 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.040 this in the entire time, thinking that you know, what 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.840 I like to do is send a message of hope 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.480 not only to the story, to this families, etcetera, etcetera, 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.040 but also I really thought it's kind of what we 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.240 need now. I mean, I certainly would like to go 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.920 to the movies and be lifted out of my daily 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.080 life into something that I find it is, you know, 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.680 has some some I don't know, hope and joy and 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.839 all of that, and and it's rare and some people 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.760 think of it as trivial, but I actually think it's 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.520 a very profound thing. Yeah, it's Uh. I was just 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.160 having a conversation with some people out in the lobby. Uh, 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:22.960 A lot of great films this year, but a lot 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:24.400 of them just kind of make you feel like crap 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.400 by design really, and it's just like the artistry is fantastic, 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.640 but it's just kind of the era dits dictates the 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.960 art in a lot of ways. Right, So, I mean 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.720 you're and so beautifully said, because um, I will say 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.040 everyone involved in this film, from Meryl Street to Emily 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.440 bl Hunt, to Lin Manuel Miranda to Calling Forth, everybody 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.880 wanted to be part of this so much, which was 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.599 honestly a tribute to the fact that everybody wanted to 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.440 send this message out into the world right now. And 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.920 I feel that you're absolutely right. It's about the time 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.320 that you're living what you know, what do we need? 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.919 And and I just felt like, you know, that carried 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.600 me through this very complicated three years of creating this film, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.440 and it's why ultimately for me, it's my most personal 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.920 film because it it really resonates deeply with me. Um 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.920 and it's a message that I sort of try and 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.839 live every day, which is sort of sort of defined, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:23.839 you know, look at things from a sort of a 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.400 positive place, look at things from a place of wonder 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.560 and sort of you know, in a way innocence sort 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.359 of how can you? How can you? How can you 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.640 view life? And it's what Peel Travers did in all 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:39.000 these books. You know, this wild, crazy, animatic character helps 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:44.440 you know, children, um, sort of rediscover you know, uh, 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.080 joy in life and and so you know, I know 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.000 it's funny when you say it. It could sound somewhat trivial, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.680 but I find it very very, very important. That's elemental. 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.880 I think it's elemental. It's like it helps you get 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:57.839 up in the morning. Yeah, yeah, you said at that 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.880 screen I was at. You said that Mary Poppins was 0:06:59.920 --> 0:07:03.159 the first movie you saw, and it's stuck with you 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.520 those reasons. Well, you know what, I was too young 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.400 probably to really absorb all that. What I do remember 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:16.320 is sort of the big general feeling of music, magic, fantasy, 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.840 you know, big movie screen performances, dance, all of that. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.720 I know that launched me into the world of musicals 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:25.800 and into the world of choreography. You know, I started 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:30.000 as a dancer. You know, Um, I know it opened 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.320 my soul, whole mind to that and whole life to 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:38.200 that that that whole you know, this the genre, and I, 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.720 of course I've revisited the film over and over again 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.200 over the years and and now you know, of course 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.040 know it so deeply, and I feel it's actually very 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.920 much inside me. But you know, I what a perfect film, 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:53.920 and you know, I found out it's a lot of 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.800 people's first film. It's the it's the it's the perfect 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:00.560 film to to bring to you know, to open someone's mind, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.320 to a child's mind too. Yeah, for sure, I I 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.760 mean certainly I remember that and bed knobs and Brunce 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:10.120 yes exactly exactly, which is why we cast Angela. One 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.120 of the reasons we cast Angela. No, she was in 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.320 the movie by I mean, I looked and I was like, oh, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.480 they announced this. It was not a surprise, but I 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.680 didn't I missed that. I guess he comes late in 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.040 the film. And it's a it's a it's a P. L. 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.440 Travers character, the balloon lady, and she has to have 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.120 a little bit of magic to her too, so and 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.000 and and it's and it's not a it's not a 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.400 big role. So in a moment you need to accept 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.120 the fact there's there's some magic about her, and Angela 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.199 just carries that with her because of not only she's 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.520 a great actress, but you know, she's Mrs Potts, she's 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.600 you know, she's she's she's elemental as well. She's elemental 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.120 as well. You obviously need to and want to maintain 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.080 a fidelity to the original aesthetic of the film, right. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.440 But within that, um, you know, what were your ideas 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.839 to innovate and and break the mold a little bit 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.959 or were you keeping a strong eye on not over 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.520 reaching in that way. It's such a good question because 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.440 I you know, that was the balancing act the entire time. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.200 But for me, the most important thing was to sort 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:13.240 of forge new territory. Um. And that was that all 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.440 came together when I chose to place it in the thirties, 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.160 when the original books were written. Um, you feel the 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.719 depression era in the books, you know, there's it's so 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.840 interesting in the books they talked about seventeen Cherry Shelan 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.480 being the shabbiest house on the street and that Mrs 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.199 Banks had a choice between fixing up the house or 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.520 having children, you know, so you get a sense of 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:39.559 that inside the you know, inside the the actual books themselves. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:44.640 But my my goal was to really, um, look for 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.480 a new story to tell. Um and and the question 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.080 really was what happened to Michael and Jane. You know, 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.360 um here it is twenty five years later from the 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.480 original film nineteen ten is when it was set when 0:09:55.520 --> 0:10:00.000 Walt Disney said it then, and so you know where 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.040 what happened? And and and and we had to look 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.640 for a big reason for Mary Poppins to return, you know. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.520 And that was this whole idea of loss and the 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.440 loss of you know, that is what I said before, 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.560 and and and that and that really, um, that was 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.959 that was the focus, because I wanted new music, an 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.600 original score, original story. Mary Poppins, of course is the 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.520 same character. She doesn't age, you know, but but it's 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.600 played by a different woman, of course, and and you know, 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.640 you have Michael and Jayne's character has grown up. But 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:35.840 it's it's sort of like I was looking for a 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:41.960 new new story. And because it's I think too easy 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.120 to sort of just say, well, we're just gonna do 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:45.920 I mean, first of all, who would I mean, it's 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.320 such a perfect film, the original film, so um, it 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.600 was really about how can we follow that but stay 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.520 as you said in the feeling of the first film 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.160 and with you know, I really wanted to risk back 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.079 in pay homage to that. That was important to me 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.240 because I used myself, honestly as a barometer. I thought 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.320 to myself, Okay, what would I want to see? You know, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.280 if I came to see a sequel Mary Poppins, I 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.400 would want to see an animation sequence with live action, 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.280 you know, I'd want to see something like that, you know. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.400 So I used myself all the time as sort of 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.360 like the big fan of the film, like I know 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.760 everybody many people are UM, but how do you do 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.920 that at the same time create something new that leaves 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.320 me wondering, like what at what point did the needle spike? 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.520 And you're like, let's not do that. Well, you know what. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.760 I remember we were looking at something UM early on 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.920 where we were going to score something with some music 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.880 from the first film UM. And there was a line 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.560 I remember the first when Mary Poppins arrived that we 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.720 had originally I think she says hello to Jack. She 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.160 lands from the kite from this big storm and she 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.160 lands and she says, um, how are you Jack? And 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:05.160 he says super cala, fragilistic, expialidocious, and it just was 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.800 too much. We had just you know, Mary Poppins had 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.840 you know, hadn't even landed on their earth, and she 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.360 and we're already referencing the winking and winking, and I 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.480 just that's such a good that's such a great way 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.640 to say it, winking, because it's so it was so 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.160 easy to send it up or wink, and I thought, no, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.160 we have to be so so careful to really play 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.920 the truth of this, to really feel connected to this family, 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.720 to understand this is a real dilemma for these people. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.760 So you can then be invested in these characters, and 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.640 then when they go on these adventures, you know, then 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.719 it's then you can go with them. But then when 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.400 we come back to reality, you're feeling, I don't know, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:51.040 somehow emotionally connected to this these people, uh regarding the 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:56.480 aesthetic conversation and just you know, maintaining a vibe. I 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.760 was actually curious if digital versus celluloid was a conversation 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.120 because you went with the Alexa. Yes, exactly, Well, you 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.679 know it was because I love shooting on film. You know, 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.720 It's just that it's it's so much more expensive now, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.320 and it's so complicated to do. It's just slower. And 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.800 I already knew what I had on my plate. I 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.920 knew what I had on my plate was enormous. It 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.199 felt like I was doing literally three movies at once, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.240 because you know, not only are you doing an original musical. 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.320 You know you're working with children, You're working with a 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.160 lot of visual effects. You're also working with animation. That 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.240 whole sequence is fifteen minutes long. Um, and so the 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.520 layers of all that, I thought, you know what, I 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.640 have to be able to move as quickly as possible. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.880 So I spent some time with young Bbie or a cinematographer, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.480 and I, you know, I basically said, can we make 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.000 this look as rich and as beautiful as possible? And 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.800 he was certain we could. Um, it's hard, you know. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.640 The departure film was a hard one for me. My 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.960 first film, Chicago was on film and it was you know, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.200 I love the texture of it, I love the feel 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.560 of it. But I thought we'd really it everything we 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.560 could to make it feel as rich and as sort 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.600 of visceral as possibly. Happy with it, very happy, very 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.160 thank you for asking. I'm very happy. You know you 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.360 mentioned this, But a movie like this, you're involved in 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.120 so many disciplines, right, You've got the choreography, which obviously 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.520 is your trade anyway, animation, songwriting, on top of the 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.239 usual you know, dealing with the production design and costumes 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.480 and all of this. Uh, you know, obviously choreography is 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.480 a big passion of yours. I'm just curious if any 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.200 of these popped out is like your favorite thing to 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.160 get your hands dirty with? You know? Well, I have 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.320 to say the animation sequence, which because I've never attempted 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.200 anything like that or worked with animators or anything like that, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:41.120 that was the most daunting, the most exciting, and the 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.920 and the hardest work because and we started with it. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.320 That's the first thing we started filming because it's all 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.680 hand drawn animation, so they needed time. So we actually 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.440 I I edited that whole sequence, um, while I was 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.440 still shooting, so we could get it to them so 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.600 they could start working. Um. That means Sandy Powell was 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.360 working hard. Early. Everybody was like, what we're doing that first? 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.280 And I said, guys, you know what we need to 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.640 for the animators. I mean, as it was, we had 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.320 over fourteen months of post production and they used every 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.360 second of that, because every single frame has hand drawn 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.600 animation and so um. But that that, you know, we 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.800 had animators in the room with us. We had choreographers 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.640 in the room with us, dance arrangers of course, musical directors, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.480 the composer, lyricists, all that. Plus you are you know, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.120 choreographing as you said, John D. Luke and myself are 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:33.600 literally choreographing animals, you know, penguins and flamingos. And we 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.520 used referenced answers for all of that. So we would 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.960 shoot it kind of three times. We would shoot it 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.800 once with just um Emily alone, for instance, to say 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.520 there was a section, and then would be and then 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.440 we do just like, for instance, the reference penguins, and 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.920 then we would actually shoot it with all of them 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.560 so we could create the frame we were looking for, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:54.880 and so you would have all these layers. It was 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:59.760 a very compregated sequence, but so great to work with 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.080 these animators, and they had to learn how to work 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.480 inside a live action movie. You know. They would say 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.160 something like to me like, well, you know, now lin 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:08.920 Manuel can just jump over there, and I said, well, 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.080 he's a person, so it's going to take him a 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.640 little more time than you're saying, just to whack over there, 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.040 you know what I mean, because they see things in 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.840 animation speed. So that was fascinating and then, you know, 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:20.400 but then I had to learn from them too. I mean, 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.640 there was a moment where Lynn had a penguin on 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.920 his cane and penguin is you know, is sort of 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.960 perched on there, and they said, you know, it needs 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.600 to be heavier than that. We need to show Lynn 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:34.800 needs to show that there's a heavy penguin on his 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.160 on his cane. And so I mean that's a little 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.000 example of how we were working together to find this 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.040 and of course to coordinate all of that together. There 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.840 was visual effects involved in that to sort of put 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.880 the two D animation into our movie into a live 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:53.360 action film. So it was fascinating and work on it was. 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.640 It was. It was. But you know, it's a fifteen 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:00.040 minute sequence. It has three sort of big sections to it. 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.800 But wow, I mean seeing that come to life, seeing 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.679 the pencil sketches turn into some color into like, you know, 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.720 fully realized, you know, a fully realized sequence. I mean 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.600 that process was unbelieving. That's an amazing sequence. I think 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.600 I feel like if I call Mark Platt one of 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.239 your producers mentioned that some of the some people came 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.840 out of retirement to work on that well, because what's 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.280 interesting is that hand drawn animation is really becoming a 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.080 lost art. Although I was hopeful in this film because 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.159 we did bring a bunch of guys out of retirement 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.359 who we needed the expertise. They were thrilled though, because 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.040 it was this project, so they came. And but what 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.399 was great was there were some twenty something's you're you know, 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.440 that were really interested in learning the old school, old 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.440 style classic animation and so hand drawn animation. So they 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.240 much more interested in that then, you know, than the 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.080 computer general way to work. And so they came on 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.040 board to learn from these masters. It was incredible to 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.040 walk in there and see them all working together. Did 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:08.439 you happen to have anybody that had worked on the 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.720 first film? And so, you know what, I did meet 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.560 somebody though recently I can't remember his name, a lovely 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.720 man who saw the film, but he's I think he's 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.480 sort of even passed, you know, retirement at this point. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.359 But but we you know, we had we had some 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.359 guys who have done the classic work, for instance, like 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.560 Beauty and the Beasts, a Little Mermaid that era not 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.639 but not quite the era of Mary Poppins. There's this 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.159 guy I met, This is an aside. His name is 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.240 Milton Kwand do you know what I'm talking about. He's 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.960 he's a hundred and eight years old. I think he 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:41.920 was a Disney animator way back in the day. And 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.240 he was in the movie Speed. He was one of 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.040 the passengers on the bus Your kid and I did 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.720 this story where I caught up with all of those 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.199 actors to do like an oral history of Speed. And 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.080 he had all these watercolors he had drawn of like 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.520 the bus and stuff. So it was just such an interesting, 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:58.119 so cool. I know, they instead of speaking, you know, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.639 they're always drawing. We had this fantastic workshop where we 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.560 just put everybody together, all these animators together, so we 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.200 could create the sequence at the Disney studios and um, 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.720 do you know that there's a there, there's a there's 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.000 a great bungalow there that's from the original studio and 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.640 it's called the Hyperion Bungalow. So we were there, which 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.359 was felt very right. We were like, you know, like 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.359 the original studio and uh. And the guys were incredible 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.000 and the women, they were so I mean we would 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:26.919 talk and they would just be their heads would be 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.040 down and just sketching, sketching, sketching, and show me, uh, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.520 you know, a sketch or a picture. Um, and then 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.960 you know, how about this? And that's how they that's 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.480 how they offered their ideas. It wasn't sort of speaking, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.040 it was by visual. It's right, much easier. Yeah, how 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.480 about this? And so we started storyboarding that and putting 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.680 it all around the room until we had the whole sequence. Cool. 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.359 That was fun. I'm curious, what's been the like the 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.520 cumulative snowball effect from you know, your Broadway days through 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:58.040 like all these movie musicals that you've made, Chicago nine, 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.360 Into the Woods and now this, Like what has been 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:03.840 the snowball effect of what you've learned and applied going 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.160 forward with each thing? You know what I mean? Such 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.960 a great question, Chris, really, Um, you know it's funny. 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.600 I always feel when I started film like I've never 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.800 done anything before, you know, so, But then what kicks 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.480 in is your gut, your your gut about things, and 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.119 I learned early on just to trust that because you 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.960 have more knowledge than you think you do. You know, Um, 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.440 I think for this one I needed all that, the 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.560 arsenal of all of that because it was a new 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.520 musical which I've never done before, and I thought, I 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:41.040 really need to know, you know, how to build this um, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.719 make sure that the music comes out of the story, 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:49.280 that it feels seamless earned. A song should feel earned. 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.800 You know. Musicals that don't work are musicals where they 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:55.840 start singing and it doesn't feel earned. Somehow, it feels awkward, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.520 it feels embarrassing. You know, um, they shouldn't be singing. 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:05.280 And so it was my goal to really create a 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.879 fabric of a film where we could tell the story 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:13.160 through song. But it felt like the rules of the 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.800 of of of the filmmaking and and that's it seems. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.119 It should seem effortless when you see it to see, well, 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.560 of course they have a song there. But knowing that 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.120 we tried many different songs. We had four or five 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.800 different songs for literally most of the material, like we 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.600 tried I know, Lynn Manuel's first song. I think we 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:36.800 had maybe four or five songs. Um Emily Blunt's first song. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.720