I’m convinced that Teddy Newton is an evil genius (in the best way possible of course). His character design work for the Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Presto and Partly Cloudy add immensely to the respective films and bear his distinct style. He’s finally directing his first Pixar project, Day & Night, which will be shown before Toy Story 3 this summer. For a background on Teddy, check out my Pixarian profile, along with the wonderful Day & Night making of article with Animation World Network. I’ve also included some early development art from the short as well. I had the chance to talk with Teddy over the phone and we started off by discussing his influences growing up.
You grew up a fan of Warner Bros. Cartoons, what kind of other interests did you have growing up?
It’s funny. As a little kid, I loved hobos, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and all those characters. I would often even dress up like them. My mom would plan parties for me at Travel Town, a train museum near Glendale, CA. We would dress up like hobos. My grandmother, who had a seamstress shop would help sew the costumes. There’s something about the 30’s and animation that seemed to go together with that kind of comedy. I was always interested in those types of things.
As a little, little kid, I don’t ever remember not drawing. I always had a fascination with cartoons. Fortunately for me, it was just becoming popular again as I was leaving high school with movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid. That’s when I got into CalArts. They were looking for people as enrollment spiked as those films came out.
You left CalArts before graduating and went to work for Disney, right?
Yeah. That’s right. I met with Eric Goldberg and Mike Gabriel who were directing Pocohontas and they hired me. Unfortunately my style just didn’t acclimate with that movie. So I bounced around Disney for a year and a half until they bounced me right out, basically [laughs]. They really couldn’t find a place for me. It was weird. There was something they had liked about me, but they couldn’t figure out how to fit it in to what they were doing.
Tell me how you met composer Michael Giacchino. Did you introduce him to Brad Bird and is that how he can came to score The Incredibles?
I met Michael while we were both at Disney. We worked together on a few projects during that time and we remained very close friends over the years. That’s how he got into Pixar through my suggestion. It’s funny. It was Brad’s idea to get John Barry, who did some of the James Bond music to score The Incredibles. They were trying him out and it wasn’t quite working. I was over at Michael’s house one day and he asked me who was doing the score. When I told him John Barry, you could see his head sink, as he really wanted to do it. He played me some of the tracks that he was working on at the time and I thought that it sounded exactly like The Incredibles temp track. I thought I really should get this over to Pixar, but I can’t let Brad know that it’s my idea. Brad would have said, “This is out of your jurisdiction”. [laughs].
I took the CDs and gave them to the editors basically. So I spread Michael Giacchino’s music all around Pixar, any way I could. Whether it was magazine articles that I found or whatever. Anywhere there I knew Brad would be. I remember Brad getting very excited about the music. Brad said, yeah, this is Bond music, but can he do the romantic stuff. So I had Michael put together a collection of all his romantic music. Eventually they called Michael in and that was that. They fell in love with each other and they were practically “high fiving” each other by the end of it.
How did you come to be involved on Doug Sweetland’s short film, Presto?
There was a time when there was like ten of us who were all pitching short film ideas to the “Brain Trust” without John Lasseter. It was narrowed down to the final four and then John got involved. He really liked them, but in the end, he felt that these projects were too developed. He really likes to be involved with them from the ground up. It was a surprise to all of us, but he eventually scrapped them all. John then wanted to see what Doug Sweetland had (who hadn’t been involved in any of the original pitches). When they went ahead with his idea for Presto, John then asked me to design the characters for the short.
Was that the same thing that happened with Partly Cloudy?
Yeah, it was the same exact thing. John had called Pete Sohn and asked him to develop something. I think in a lot of ways when they make a short, they are really interested in the person. Yes, you have to have a great idea, but a lot times, they are more interested in cultivating a particular person. That’s what happened with Doug Sweetland and Pete Sohn at that time.
I know you were reluctant to pitch Day & Night after so many previous rejections. Do you feel that your sensibilities don’t always fit into the direction of Pixar and the kind of films that are trying to make?
Yeah. It’s strange. Of course I’ve worked here for ten years, so there’s a part of what I do that fits in with their style. I almost think it’s like a spice that you don’t put too much in. [laughs]. It’s a very specific thing that I do, especially with my conceptual ideas or storyboards. I think they like to have a little of that flavor, especially Brad, inside of their films. But I felt that they didn’t want a completely raw version of that. That’s what kind of surprised me about Day & Night because it was so different than what they have normally been doing. It was such a strange concept and it was going to be drawn as well. The way we were even using music and voice over in this oddly, naturalistic way. All these things were odd and different from a normal cartoon. That kind of blew me away. I’m not kidding; John really went for everything we pitched, it was incredible.
Tell me about the pitch you did for Day & Night.
The pitch itself was in 3D. You had to wear 3D glasses during the pitch. I had the two characters meeting, they fight and I had a sunset. It was nothing more than twelve drawings. I think my attitude was different than previous attitudes I had going in for other pitches. Instead of fleshing out the whole thing. Like I said before, John really likes to build something with you from the ground up. So that’s why I decided not to iron out the whole thing. I’ll have a good concept and a couple of really strong ideas that go with the concept of how it can be utilized. I had to be confident about where this is going to go. I was trying to trust the process more instead of fighting the process. I didn’t even finish the pitch, before John said, “This is it. This is the one we are doing.”
Didn’t this get green lit unusually fast? Was it ultimately John Lasseter’s decision or did the “Brain Trust” at Pixar make the decision as a whole?
Yeah, it really happened very fast. I know on previous shorts, the entire brain trust would be involved. In my case, it was just John and myself in the meetings. I think that aided in what gave the film its unique stamp, because it was only John and myself. It could have just been myself and Brad [Bird) or Lee [Unkrich] or whatever. I think the fact that it was so small, it actually maintained a very specific viewpoint. Though the brain trust is fantastic, I think there are very strong viewpoints in the room. Sometimes there’s a tendency for the ideas to get diluted, especially this short, as it may not fit into everybody’s taste. Having a small group of people really supported the whole tone and style of this short.
Did you have certain animators focus on the 2D, while others handled the 3D animation?
Only one animator did the CG animation in the film and that was Doug Dooley. We had about six animators on the film total. A lot of them hadn’t done hand drawn animation in ten years. It was really rusty at first. You think these characters look like nothing and it will be really simple, but 2D takes a lot of “hacking”. It’s not as controllable as computer animation can be.
Did you handpick who would work with you on this project or is it a case of whom ever is available between projects and work?
Yeah. In a short you don’t always have the luxury of picking your entire team. I did pick our lead animator, Tom Gately. I also picked Mike Fu, the tech supervisor as well as Andrew Pienaar, the lighting supervisor. As far as everyone else, I was given options amongst the people who were available.
As a short that was conceived with 3D from the very beginning, have you seen it projected in 2D and do you think that it still works?
Yeah, I think it works as 2D. Actually, in some ways it could even be a little clearer. What’s difficult about 3D is that it has you focusing deliberately between foreground and background. In 2D, it’s a little more played out on the surface and it is easier to focus your eye where it needs to be. I do think it’s a little extra bonus to experience it in 3D.
Special thanks to Teddy, Chris and Hasia for the interview.
What do you think? Share your thoughts on Teddy Newton, his career and your excitement for Day & Night.
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