PRESS AND INTERVIEWS.

WILLEM DAFOE AND WES ANDERSON ON THE ANIMATIC

Since [The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes has] extensively used animatics to prepare his scenes. (He describes it as “a storyboard cartoon version of the scenes,” and then adds, “We just call it the cartoon.”) At first, these were meant primarily for his production designer, and his cinematographer. Over the years, some actors asked to see them as well. “It started with Willem Dafoe,” Anderson says. “He started telling the other actors, ‘Watch this thing! This is what he actually wants you to do.’” 

SET DECORATOR; ANNA PINNOCK ON THE ANIMATIC

Thankfully, Pinnock and Stockhausen had an unusual guide in Anderson’s assemblage of animatics, storyboards stitched together with sound, here used to pre-visualise nearly 90 per cent of the film. “That’s enormously helpful because the way Wes draws the cartoons, you know the bucket that he has drawn,” she says. “Sometimes he doesn’t want you to merely follow the cartoon. He wants you to bring your ideas, but you certainly have a great anchor. You know from the details in the cartoon that certain specific items are going to be very, very important to him.”

BENICIO DEL TORO ON THE STORYBOARDS
Lead Actor Benicio Del Toro speaks about our animatic during the behind the scenes for The Phoenician Scheme.

HENRY SUGAR STORYBOARDS
Wes Anderson speaks about our animatic during this behind the scenes for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.

Featuring some of my boards from the film.

CAST OF ASTEROID CITY DISCUSS ANIMATIC
During the Cannes 2023 press conference, the cast of Asteroid City discuss the animatic created by Head of Story; Jay Clarke, Animatic Editor; Eddie Bursch and myself. 

TOM HANKS DISCUSSES ANIMATIC
Actor Tom Hanks praises the Animatic for Asteroid City and discusses watching it before production on the film started.

BRYAN CRANSTON DISCUSSES ANIMATIC
During this Inverview with Collider, actor Byran Cranston talks about the useful role the animatic for Asteroid City played.

BOB BALABAN DISCUSSES ANIMATIC
During this Red Carpet Interview for Letterboxd, actor and director Bob Balaban talks about the animatic's role for getting complex shots completed on time.

ADRIEN BRODY AND WES ANDERSON ON THE ANIMATIC

“Everybody talks about the animatics,” Anderson’s long-term collaborator Adrien Brody says during the film’s press conference.
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“All animated movies […] you make this [animatic], and you work from that. And I realize that there were scenes that I had done that I would’ve completely messed up without it,” the Academy Award -nominated director admits.

ROBERT YEOMAN (D.O.P.) ON THE ANIMATIC

"Wes creates an animatic, which is an animated cartoon of the movie. Wes has someone animate the characters, and he does the voices. We use that as our guide.
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For Asteroid City, the production team built a town in the middle of nowhere in Spain to accommodate the animatic. We used that cartoon to understand how the camera was going to move and how Wes planned to explore the town cinematically."

INTERVIEW FOR BRISTOL SCHOOL OF ANIMATION

Following his graduation in 2019, Joe Thad Deahl has been working on Asteroid City, a new feature film by acclaimed director Wes Anderson. Joe said ‘I’m very excited to see my drawings come to life and to be working on a film featuring actors that I’m such a big fan of. It’s a dream project.’