MirrorMask
Interview
As a follow up to his first look at the new
Fantasy/Adventure picture MirrorMask, writer Jonathan Joy went to a
promotional press interview event to learn more about the film and the men
behind it. Here is what he found:
Upon my arrival to the Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood,
with Kermit the Frog statue flying high above, I’m was unsure what to
expect. I really enjoyed the film, and
was completely anxious to hear more about the film.
Once on the premises, I wasn’t let down in the least. There was plenty of creativity and
imagination around every corner. The
specific reason for my visit to the Henson Studios involved a roundtable
O&A with writer Neil Gaiman and director Dave McKean for MirrorMask. Though my small group was allotted a short
amount of time with each individual, I wanted to hear about McKean’s pro’s and
con’s, to making a feature that heavily mixes live action with digital
animation, along with his successful twenty year collaboration with writer
Gaiman.
The project MirrorMask began with Lisa Henson
approaching both McKean and Gaiman. In
tackling such a project, McKean knew of the pressure to raise the bar for a
company that has produced such classics as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. The only problem was those two pictures were
made for 40 million dollars, while this one had a very, very low budget of only
$4 million. As soon as we sat down,
McKean explained: “I learned so much from making this picture. In many ways this was my film school…
Stephanie Leonidas believed everything in the role of Helena. Without her, they would have had
nothing. With her believing so much
allowed her to carry the film.”
McKean continued to take questions from some fellow
journalists that were good, but not what I had in mind. I was interested more in the heart and soul
of what made this film tick. To finish
his portion of the discussion, McKean was asked what the secret to a good
working relationship is and said, “It is two things to the key and balance of
our relationship and that is knowing we don’t always have to work with one
another thus we are not defined by each other.
The second and most important element is trust. We have no baggage. That and the fact that Neil and I started at
the bottom. We have grown and matured
together which allows us to challenge one another all the time.”
In the Q&A portion with writer Neil Gaiman that
followed, I was most curious to hear about how he approaches writing in general
and how his writing may change with each new project. He began our discussion by talking about how his writing style
fit into writing MirrorMask. “My style is very upside down.” The one selling point for him to do this
film was simple. We had no money, but
total creative control.” Given the
opportunity to collaborate with McKean and the fantasy genre, Gaiman knew he
would be pulling from many points of inspiration, but a few in particular such
as the 1939 Wizard Of Oz, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and
Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits.
His long-running collaboration with McKean is still a
unique one even to this day. Gaiman
told us “Dave always surprises me. He
gives me back something I would never expect even after twenty years.”
The Gaiman interview came to a close with what he thought
the MirrorMask represents: “The mask is
a reflection of taking control over a situation that Helena never really had
control over. It’s about a time in our
lives when we are picking and changing identities all the time.” McKean and Gaiman have a genuine
relationship that this individual hopes will continue for another twenty
years. If MirrorMask is the
surprise hit it deserve to be, this is far from the last time they will work
together.
See Jon’s review of the film at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2710/MirrorMask+(Theatrical+Release)
The film national release date: 9/30/05.
