Hoodwinked was the first independent animated film to be eligible for an Oscar. All Hoodwinked images © 2005, The Weinstein Co. All rights reserved.

Life is full of sudden surprises: On the eve of the national release of Hoodwinked, co-directors/co-writers Cory and Todd Edwards, along with co-producers Katie Hooten and Preston Stutzman, all returned to their native city of Anderson, Indiana, for the gala premiere. The quartet was extremely busy with private screenings and panels held at their alma mater, Anderson University, but the creative crew graciously found the time for this exclusive interview for AWN. My thanks to the Hoodwinked gang and to the PR department at Anderson University for arranging this interview virtually overnight. (Go, Ravens!)

Dr. Toon: What were your reactions when you first found that Hoodwinked was eligible for the Oscars?

Cory Edwards: We’re kind of nominated to be nominated! The Weinsteins have done a great job pushing the movie. There have been a dozen ads in the trades pushing the song Great Big World that Anne Hathaway sings, so they’ve definitely given it a good shot. Hoodwinked is kind of the little film amongst bigger competition, so it’s definitely the dark horse in the race.

Todd Edwards: It’s a success to us already. It’s done, it’s out there and people are getting to see it.

Katie Hooten: We’re very proud of our film. The final 10 have been selected now, and we’re in that pool. It’s a little difficult to be under the same scrutiny as a Disney, Pixar or DreamWorks film. The lens through which the reviewers and the public are seeing it, well, there are many times we’ve wished they could know the full story of how this movie came to be, because it’s amazing that it was even able to be done.

It took Todd Edwards about six months to realize how big Hoodwinked might turn into. The film’s producer kept going back to Kanbar and asking for more money.

TE: On such a low budget! I like what The Onion said when they reviewed Hoodwinked: “OK, this is really funny. Now, for the love of God someone give these guys a real budget!”

KH: I think what makes Hoodwinked so special is that we’ve got many colleagues standing shoulder to shoulder with us who have been producing for the last few years, trying to get an independently made animated film out to a wider marketplace. We have the privilege to be the first to do so with a wide national release, and we feel great knowing that there are many friends behind us who will follow in this trend.

CE: So, even to be in that camp, we’re very happy. If Hoodwinked got nominated, it’d be crazy! It’d be great!

TE: Well, this is a little bit of a tangent, but Gary Rizzo, who mixed The Incredibles, mixed our movie up at Skywalker, and he has been a big fan of the movie and had some nice things to say. All those guys up at Skywalker are critics, even cynical in some ways, and they see everything that comes out. All the big movies go through there, and we really got the impression that they thought our movie was something special. We felt that we got the endorsement from some of the toughest critics in the business, really.

DT: Hoodwinked is, I believe, actually the first independent animated film to be eligible for an Oscar. It’s an unusual film in many ways, and let’s start with the producers, writers and directors. You are all graduates of Anderson University, which has no film or animation program. None of you attended film school. Do you think you would have made a different picture if you had?

CE: Hmm. I probably would have had more of that background you get in film school, like knowing the literature of film, if that’s the term, having a historical reference of certain filmmakers. We kind of had to pick that up along the way.

KH: Even though there’s not a film or animation program at the university, there’s no straight path to filmmaking. It’s not like someone who wants to be a doctor, who can almost calculate when his career will be taking off for him. In the film industry there’s no sure way to know that. It can happen in a number of ways. Our producer Preston joked he’s proof that a computer science major could get involved in film production. Cory’s a communications major, I was theater, and Todd was art, so it all kind of combined for us.

Cory and Todd have kind of taken themselves to task on schooling themselves. I know that maybe some educators wouldn’t like to hear that! But Cory’s been a professional stand-up comedian for 13 years, Todd has worked tirelessly on his screenplays, just scrutinizes them word for word, so not having gone to a formalized school for that, I think the drive comes from within to raise the bar.