BRAVE was one of the most talked about animated films of the summer. The story about a princess who defies the traditions of her kingdom to break an evil curse struck a chord with viewers young and old. With the movie coming out on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, we caught up with Mark Andrews, one of the film’s directors. Here’s what he had to say about the filmmaking process and whether audiences can expect a BRAVE sequel.
What made you want to take on this project?
That’s an interesting question! Pixar came to me and asked me to jump in and take over directing on BRAVE. I’d been part of the BRAVE trust, so I’d been seeing the reels through the several years that Brenda [Chapman] had been directing the movie and offering my suggestions to help Brenda make her movie fantastic. I’d been the consultant from the beginning on all things Scottish and Medieval and Celtic, so I was kind of a natural choice for that because Brenda’s passions were my passions; our love of Scotland — we share Scottish ancestry. When I was asked to do it, I said ‘absolutely’ because I believed in Brenda’s vision and I believed in the heart of the story that she was trying to get across.
How much of the movie is based on real Scottish history and culture?
There’s so much! The wealth of information, the wealth of inspiration that we got… I could say 100 percent! We took little bits from all over: a research trip, the places that we saw, environments, the people that we talked to, just impressions that we got from our experiences in Scotland, plus some of the old Scottish myths. Will-o’-the-wisps are well known in Scotland and in the British Isles. The four clan icons: the sword, the icon, the stone, the liar, those go way deep into Celtic mythology. The standing stones, the ruins, there’s lots of stuff. Animals, transformation, magic, witches, all this stuff is deeply rooted in that culture. We just grabbed what inspired us that would work for the story.
When casting voice actors, what qualities are you looking for?
I think it’s the same as when you cast for live action. You’re looking for an actor that can play that character and who embodies that character. We were looking for big, lovable Scotsmen with a big, loud voices that you could laugh at. Billy Connolly comes to mind. We were looking for a queen who was not only elegant and noble, but she can make fun of herself. Emma Thompson comes to mind, you know what I mean? We got really lucky with our cast. Everybody we thought of and approached to do the film said ‘yes’, so we’re very happy with the cast. And the cast brought tons to the characters. Kelly Macdonald, she was just fantastic as Merida. Kelly said that she had to tap her inner teenager. Not saying that she’s ancient, but she hasn’t been a teenager for a while so she had a lot of fun and was very surprised by how easily being a teenager came to her.
The animation in this film is absolutely beautiful. As directors, how much input and control do you have over it?
I’m the director, so tons! I’ve worked with live action and I’ve worked with actors on set and we discuss the motivations and their choices. It’s the same thing with my animators. They come from the same club, except they have to go back to their computers to push and pull points and manipulate the figure to get that performance. It’s along the same lines. Why is this character making this choice? What is their motivation?… Now when it comes to the frame that makes the eyes pop or the head turn, that’s when my animation supervisors come in and these are the best guys in the world. All the animators at Pixar really bring the skill and craft to making the details… that nuance. When you’re watching these characters, they’re just acting. It’s hard to imagine that they’re not alive and that’s kind of the magic.
If you could have the audience take away one message from this movie, what would it be?
Rely on yourself! Be brave!
Would you ever consider making a sequel to BRAVE?
We would consider it. I mean, it’s not something that Pixar does out of hand, like ‘Hey, you made half a billion dollars worldwide: automatic sequel!’ It doesn’t work like that. We believe at Pixar that we only make a sequel if we have the right story and it’s a story that needs to be told. It has to kind of like that obvious, ‘Duh, of course we’ll make this story.’ So is there going to be a sequel to BRAVE? Don’t know. Somebody comes up with the right story at the right time and pitches it to Pixar and they go ‘Th-that’s that’s awesome!’ Then we’ll make one!
Thanks, Mark!
BRAVE hits shelves on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13 so be sure to take home this amazing adventure!