ZS: I had a really amazing workflow where I had an HD conference video set up in my office with a direct line to Animal Logic. I had a Wacom tablet with a QuickTime/CineSync session every day; and then I had a color correct monitor with all the color-correct shots; and then I had a full edit of the movie and an editor that worked on my side. Every day I would get my shots in and with a red mark, I could draw on each frame, and say, "Move this, move that; dolly faster…" And I could course correct the movie as it went.

BD: What were the biggest challenges?

ZS: I guess for me I was really into this notion of meeting your hero, the one you've imagined as this mythic warrior and then you meet him and he's this crusty, old, Screech Owl. So being able to work on this scene and let it just play with Geoffrey and Jim [Sturgess] with studio pressure to cut it or speed it up because kids are going to get bored, was a challenge. And I was like, "No, no -- this is the movie. C'mon guys, let it be. I don't think the movie's boring."

BD: And yet you were forced to cut an early scene that was too dark?

ZS: Yeah, there's almost a finished scene in the earlier version of the movie. What happens in the book is that when Kludd [Ryan Kwanten] goes back to get Eglantine [the sister, Adrienne deFaria], he's responsible for the death of his parents. So when Soren goes to find Digger [David Wenham] and Twilight [Anthony LaPaglia], they basically take Soren home and when he gets there, the whole forest is burned out and his parents are gone and Mrs. P [the snake, Miriam Margolyes] tells him [what's happened].

BD: It's like right out of The Searchers. 

ZS: Exactly, and then his need to find The Guardians comes out of what his father would've wanted him to do. But the studio thought it was too dark.

BD: But it will be on the Blu-ray and DVD?

ZS: Yep, you bet! And let the kids decide if it's too dark.

BD: What was the stereoscopic 3-D experience like?

ZS: The thing with 3-D that we tried to do is to use it to make Soren's world real: to make it deeper. And I think that's the thing that was a benefit of the 3-D. Of course, there are a few moments that poke you, like the wing-tipped shots or when they catch a bluebird, but mostly I intended it to be more of an immersive experience.

BD: What was the impact on the live-action films you've been working on?

ZS: It's all a time management scenario but it did inspire me. I learned a lot from Guardians as far as creating worlds and not being afraid of full-CG shots. I think that Guardians got the benefit of me stretching this dramatic movie I was working on and sticking to my guns with the studio.

BD: How is Sucker Punch going?

ZS: It's going great. As I watch it now, it's really this crazy combination of Twilight Zone episodes and my favorite action films, and have been pleasantly surprised by this drama that these girls supplied me with. It's just so rich and awesome. And it's a little bit of mindbender.

BD: How are you developing as a director with your first original?