By Gill Pringle
We’ve heard that one of the big differences between Kubo And The Two Strings and Laika’s other movies is that this one is really about texture rather than about details. Do you agree with that? “I do agree with that. It’s about trying to find what the visual signature is of each film. Our last film was incredibly intricate and detailed. It was our version of Victorian London…sure, London never looked like it looked in our movie, but that’s our version of it. Now, this is our version of feudal Japan. Japan does not look like this, but it’s our version of it in much the way that Miyazaki looks at Western Europe. I love seeing his take on Western Europe – again, it’s Europe viewed through his lens. It doesn’t look anything like Western Europe, but it is so beautiful to see an artist’s perspective on these different things. Oftentimes, your design language starts with line work, and it starts with a shape language. But on this film, we looked to the work of Kiyoshi Saito. His work was very different in that a lot of it was about texture. He used very simple graphic shapes, and a very limited palette of colour, and what he did to give nuance to his work was that he actually used the inherent qualities of the wood in the wood block printing to give texture. It gives it an interesting, unusual feeling, and it’s an unusual and beautiful signature for this movie, because of the different things that we explore. We didn’t even know if we would be able to do it. We had to find a way to incorporate that texture in the sky, in the fabric, in the buildings and props, and in the character design. Could we even do that? We didn’t know, but we started approaching texture as the signature element as opposed to shape. And it works. You find those textures in every single surface, including the water. It’s all rooted in those influences in Saito and that textural quality.”
Were there any expectations that you had of directing that didn’t turn out to be so? “I’ve been doing this a long time – first, as an artist working in the trenches for a good long while, in the granular area of the minutia, with all the sweating, and all the details, every day. I’m painfully familiar with that, and then as a producer and as head of the company, that’s a different perspective. That’s looking at things completely differently, and thinking about big global issues. Directing is somewhere in between. You’re making detailed creative decisions every day, and yet you still have to keep that big picture in mind. Being an artist for two decades, and then being CEO for years, were great training grounds for being a director on this film. Interacting with the crew in this way has been the most creatively rewarding experience of my entire life. It’s been an absolute blessing to have been able to tell this beautiful story with this incredible group of people, and to try and find ways that I can inspire them to do their best work. They certainly inspire me to my best work. It’s just a beautiful exchange of a bunch of really strange artists that inspire each other. It’s an extraordinary thing to be a part of.”
Do you have another project in mind yet? “Oh, yes! Always!”
We’ve heard about something involving Terry Gilliam… “We are always on the lookout for new and interesting stories to tell, and for new and interesting artists to collaborate with. I have a bucket list of people that I would love to work with before I shuffle off this mortal coil, and Terry Gilliam is one of them. We have friends in common. I met Terry Gilliam through Neil Gaiman. We were doing a panel one time, and Neil just happened to be having lunch with Terry, so I tagged along and we struck up a really great rapport. He’s one of my influences. A lot of people don’t remember that Terry Gilliam was an extraordinary animator…a beautiful visual artist. Those are the kinds of artists that I would love to collaborate with, and those are the kinds of outreach that we do to try and bring visionary artists into this medium. We’d love to see them tell different kinds of stories in new and evocative ways, so we’ll see.”
Finally, what is the fascination with graveyards? “[Laughs] In terms of exploring big ideas, there’s nothing bigger than the subject of mortality. It’s what it all means, and it’s what it comes down to. It’s all about those extremes, of life and death and being on the edge of that. Whereas in ParaNorman we treated the graveyard scenes as terrifying, as something to try to run away from, in Kubo And The Two Strings, we treat it as something beautiful. It’s just a part of life. In some ways, mortality is what gives life meaning. Those experiences are things that none of us can avoid. It’s making our moments count. It’s about making what we do on this Earth mean something. I think that between those two things, you could look at the graveyard that we see in ParaNorman, and you could look at the graveyard that we see in Kubo And The Two Strings, and they’re diametrically opposed in terms of the kinds of ideas that we are exploring. I personally gravitate towards the Kubo And The Two Strings one. Why we are here, our mortality, helps give our life substance and meaning. So let’s make it count, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
Kubo And The Two Strings is in cinemas from August 18. Click through for the first, second, and third parts of our interview with Travis Knight. To win one of fifty double passes to Kubo And The Two Strings, just enter our Best Animated Film Of All Time poll, by clicking here.
