ZS: I think it's all an evolution: I can't quantify my growth; I'm a little too close to it at this point. But I definitely feel there's a confidence in the movie that's fun.

With Sucker Punch, Animal Logic helps create an

ambiguous fantasy world.

ZS: They help in creating this sort of ambiguous fantasy world; what it means as the mystery slowly gets solved.

BD: Is there more CG than in your previous live-action films?

ZS: I would say there is, especially in certain sequences. The samurai are all CG; and the dragon and the dragon environments.

BD: But it's not in 3-D?

ZS: No, we were going to do a conversion, but I think what happened to me was that all this work on Guardians and how awesome the 3-D is, there's no way to be as good. I don't want to expose the movie like that.

BD: I keep hearing more and more that the best approach is to shoot it 3-D because you can't convert what isn't there.

ZS: I believe that's true.

BD: Have you had a chance to see any other animation this year? Toy Story 3?

ZS: I thought it was awesome: it made me cry like a child.

BD: How to Train Your Dragon?

ZS: I saw that too and thought it was cool.

BD: What are you directing next?

ZS: I think maybe Xerxes, the 300 sequel. I kind of feel that's what's coming up next. I'm writing the script with my partner [Kurt Johnstad].

BD: What can you tell us about it?

ZS: It takes place during the Battle of Artemisium, which is on the same three days as Thermopylae but at sea. It features these giant triremes crashing together with thousands of hoplites running across the decks of these ships in the storm and fighting each other with lightening and horses and basically all of it on the ocean.

BD: And you can do a lot more now with visual effects.

ZS: Yeah, it's really true. I'm glad that I had this challenge now and not five years ago.

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.