Chris Wedge Interview – Epic Director

By Tribute on May 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Featuring the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Beyoncé Knowles, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd, Epic opens in 3D on May 24, 2013. Colin Farrell voices Ronin, the leader of the Leafmen – two-inch tall humanoid creatures with grasshopper-like jumping abilities who fly around saddled on the back of hummingbirds. Hutcherson lends his voice to Nod, a young recruit with his own way of doing things. They fight the Boggans – dim-witted creepy crawlers who sow disease and rot. The balance between the two forces hinges upon choices made by a human girl, Mary Katherine (Seyfried), who is magically shrunken down to their size.

Oscar-winning director Chris Wedge, who spent years working on Epic, was in Toronto to discuss the film and Tribute had the chance to chat with him.

How did the idea for Epic come to you?
When you think of a new idea for animation it usually starts with a world or place. There was an exhibition about 15 years ago that came to New York about Victorian fairy paintings and the images from that blew my mind. These were painted by people, some of whom I think were in institutions that really believed this was happening. Civilizations in the woods and ceremonies, coronations, weddings, funerals were all depicted in minor detail. And I thought, well that’s a great place to tell a story. My friend Bill Joyce had recently made this book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. The leaf men are about two inches tall and they are very charming in this book, but we didn’t want to make that story.  I want to take those leaf men and amp them up into samurai warriors, put them on hummingbirds so they can jet around the forest. We didn’t know exactly back then what the story would be but that’s where we started.

How did you choose this cast, because it’s very eclectic. 
Well, the characters are eclectic. So you go character by character and you just try to come up with the best idea for a voice. You start with an archetype on every character and then you get more nuances. You consider, well if you used this voice, it would tweak the character a little bit this way, or if you use this voice, it would tweak him the other way. It really takes about a year to cast the movie.

Let’s start with Colin Farrell because he’s a very busy guy.
You start with an archetype for a voice who is a stoic, battle-hardened leaf man and you know there are a lot of crackly old voices out there that would be great for that but then you picture that actor’s face. It’s too recognizable so you’re not going to use Clint Eastwood or Tommy Lee Jones. I started looking for a strong male voice that you wouldn’t think of and Colin is just great.

Amanda Seyfried does a good job in this as well.
Amanda was on a very short list from the very beginning. When I got to talk to her, she sounded just like Mary Katherine. Amanda’s got this uncanny ability to lock right in as soon as she steps in front of the microphone. You give her the lines and she just, BANG, she’s right in there. She just gets right in the scene, which is hard to do in a room by yourself. She goes straight to the heart of it. She could be quirky and funny as well.

With Josh Hutcherson, I needed a fun, likeable, idiot for Nod. There were plenty of these upstart characters that think a lot of themselves and are kind of obnoxious. Having a 16-year-old son of my own I knew that what makes them charming is that they are constantly convinced that they are right. And they are always wrong. They have to make every mistake before they know they are wrong. He has to have confidence but we have to see that it’s just because he is young, so he’s charming. And Josh is totally clear about that.

Then there are your comic relief characters, Mub and Grub, voiced by Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari.
Chris has done a bunch of stuff. He’s been making films and shot two TV series. I had to fly to Galloway, Ireland to record it because that’s where he was. He is a natural, I wish his part was bigger. The movie would’ve been EPIC in capital letters.

How challenging was this one for you especially with the 3D aspect?
I wouldn’t say challenging, I would say fun. 3D gives you another dimension, for a lack of a better word. You’re either close or far away. You can really control how far you push the audience’s head into the screen and you control the immersion and you can also control the space between characters, so it’s just taking what you usually do in 2D and switching it into 3D. It’s giving the audience more of an immersion.

This film is really not just for kids, it’s for everybody. How do you find the balance?
I hate the fact that people assume animation is for kids. I’ve been a little kid and I’ve been making animations since I was a kid. And I never wanted to make movies for kids. I wanted to make things that interested me. When I was a kid, the movies I liked were the movies that my parents liked. There was no difference. So I didn’t try to make a movie for kids. It is absolutely accessible for kids, it’s a PG movie. But there are things that I think will intrigue adults as well. I hope people feel the same feeling that they felt when they’ve seen some of their favorite stuff. You can be any age and love this movie.

When did you know you wanted to be an animator? Do you ever see yourself doing a live action film?
I could if the right one comes along, I’ve developed a couple of them. I’ve spent the better part of the last eight years trying to get this one up. I started thinking about animation when I was 12 and that’s all I ever prepared myself to do.

Do you have the patience of a saint?
I don’t think so. Ask my wife about that one.

I’d think you’d have to be an extremely patient person because these movies take so long to make.
I’d love to see her face during these interviews. Her eyes would be stretching out to the top of her head. Behind every successful man is a surprised woman, as they say.

Congratulations on this, you really have outdone yourself. Have you started thinking about your next project or are you taking a little break?
I’ll take a little break but I’m too uptight not to think about the next one. ~Bonnie Laufer

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