Home Media Magazine - October 21-27, 2007 - (Page 22)

PIPELINE TALENT TALK www.homemediamagazine.com Meet the Director of Disney’s ‘Robinsons’ By Billy Gil FA M I LY Walt Disney Studios’ Meet the Robinsons is manic, emotional and dripping with ideas. It’s also an irreverent CG-animated comedy that taps into the cartoon past. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will release the film on DVD and Blu-ray Disc Oct. 23. Director Steve Anderson discussed the film with Home Media Magazine. I HM: What influenced you for this film? Anderson: Animation-wise, certainly Disney animation and Warner Bros. were my two big influences as we designed our animation style and contrasted the two worlds, present day and future. The present-day characters walk in a very Disney way, whereas the future characters are more of a Looney Tunes style — quick, snappy — and they’re very much like those characters. They invade your personal space, they touch you, grab you. Certainly the Disney parks, world fairs, the futures they promised in the past with flying cars and robots in your kitchen, that optimism. We don’t set out to make references to movies, but because we all love movies, unconsciously they come out in our work. There’s certainly a lot of Back to the Future. It’s hard to make a time travel movie without evoking Back to the Future. I HM: The film’s backstory is partially based on William Joyce’s kids book A Day With Wilbur Robinson. Disney had the rights to it for a live-action film, then it migrated to animation. How did you become involved with the film? Was that intentional? Anderson: I was just finishing as story supervisor for Brother Bear in December 2002. I had expressed interest to the studio to try directing, and the studio had developed this script throughout 2002 and said, “We’d like to give you a chance, so read this and see if this is something you’d be interested in.” I had this amazing personal connection being that I was adopted as an infant, so there was no question in my mind that yes, I was going to do this project because I really understood this boy Lewis and what he was thinking and feeling. I HM: There are some underlying messages in the film about leaving the past behind and staying positive in the face of adversity. Anderson: As a storyteller, I believe you have to have some sort of statement you’re making. Sometimes people feel themes get too preachy and limit your choices, but I think you need some sort of controlling idea to support your ideas. We got the “keep moving forward” pretty early on as we developed the story. I feel it’s a very universal kind of thing. Mistakes, failures, it doesn’t matter what side of the globe you’re on, we all go through it. I think it’s something that’s simple enough that children can understand it but it’s relatable to adults as well. your filmmaking, and what you think 3-D might mean for home media down the line? Anderson: The good thing about it is the technology has evolved such that you can control it and it doesn’t have to be a gimmick. During the quieter moments, we dialed the depth way down. During the moments like the fight with the dinosaur, we can use the 3-D more heavily. Instead of saying, “hey, let’s make people jump in their seats,” we said, “let’s get an emotional reaction out of people.” I can see it coming into people’s living rooms. As technology gets more sophisticated, I’d like to think there’s a real dynamic future for 3-D in the I HM: Meet the Robinsons had the largest home. People like the notion of being digital 3-D opening in history. Can you talk a able to interact with their entertainlittle about how the concept of 3-D informed ment. 3-D allows you to do that. ‘MOVIES 101’ ON DVD By Kyra Kudick C L A S S I C City Lights Home Entertainment Nov. 6 will release American Movie Classics’ Movies 101 in a special-edition boxed set for $39.95 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Richard Brown’s legendary New York University film class. The four-DVD set includes the original celebrity interviews that appeared on AMC, plus an additional 20 minutes of each interview not broadcast in the weekly television series, as well as exclusive interviews with Professor Brown. The DVDs are divided into four categories: Award Winners, Leading Ladies, Leading Men and Icons. Award Winners includes interviews with Martin Scorsese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Susan Sarandon. Leading Ladies contains interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Julianne Moore and Sigourney Weaver. Leading Men features George Clooney, Josh Lucas, Daniel Day-Lewis and Dennis Quaid. Icons has interviews with Jon Voight, Jeff Bridges, Willem Dafoe and Kevin Kline. Joan Dearest By Billy Gil Before she was the subject of spoof for such fare as the campy What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Mommie Dearest, which told of her abuse toward her adopted daughter, Joan Crawford was a screen queen, starring in one blockbuster after another. Following its Joan Crawford Collection in 2005, Warner Home Video is releasCLASSIC ing the Joan Crawford Collection Vol. 2 Feb. 12 (prebook Jan. 8) at $42.92. The set features five films making their DVD debuts. It includes Sadie McKee (1934), a rags-to-riches story from her hit-making years at MGM that is notable for being the film Crawford’s Blanche Hudson character watches on television from her wheelchair in 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Other films on the set are Strange Cargo (1940), which co-starred Clark Gable; A Woman’s Face (1941), about a disfigured woman with a twisted soul (typical of Crawford’s characters); Flamingo Road (1949), which paired her with director Michael Curtiz (who directed her Oscar-winning turn in Mildred Pierce); and Torch Song (1953), which marked her return to MGM from Warner Bros. and was her first film in Technicolor. All of the DVDs in the set carry special features such as vintage shorts and cartoons. Visit moreDVDinfo.com, call R. Stadin at 212-879-04448. Distributors: Baker&Taylor, Ingram & VPD http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.moredvdinfo.com

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Contents News TV DVD Going Green Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - October 21-27, 2007

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