BD: What involvement did you have when they decided to finish this?

JH: Well, outside of meetings about what certain things stood for, you know, what they meant to Dali, that was it. I didn’t make any more drawings.

Dali, Disney and Hench were in synch on the abstract nature of Dali’s images.

BD: Were there any other things that cropped up that needed explaining?

JH: Well, part of it was the girl — where she finds her way and the towers and the falling hair — we had it a little more elaborate on the original storyboard, but they dealt with that very neatly. And the tower is — the morphing, I think — particularly good for that.

BD: What was it like watching the finished film?

JH: Well, I had to see it three times. It evolved so rapidly.

BD: Yeah, it is a lot to absorb.

JH: But the second time around is better and the third time around is even better.

BD: Aside from the elegance that obviously comes through, what else?

JH: With my experience with Dali, I knew the images pretty well and, of course, it was great to see the actual movement instead of just a bunch of stills. The storyboard is very limited.

BD: And did you think that captured the essence of it?

JH: Yes, I did.

BD: And what about the limited but effective use of 3D computer animation for some of the modeling and camera movement?

JH: It was entirely adequate. I don’t know what parts were computer, but they understand exactly how much they can use of it, of course. I thought the color was quite satisfactory that I remembered.

BD: Did you make any contact at all with Dali after it was over?

JH: Oh, yeah. There were some little things he wanted done for him and I did those. On my own time. Not regarding the picture; it was regarding a painting he was doing.

BD: Did he discuss animation in general? Did you have conversations about the nature of animation and how you made things there at Disney?

JH: Not very much, no. When I thought something was necessary, then I’d have to explain it. He was open about movement, he understood that things were going to move and you’re going to watch the changes that took place. And you rely on a certain situation. He painted often. Detailed pretty well, pretty thoroughly so he would arrive at that with just a simple cut.

BD: So overall you’re pleased with Destino?

JH: I think it was a really surprising thing, and I don’t think we’ll ever see another thing like it. I do think that the surprising thing was the elegance that came through, though the turtles seem to suggest that because they were highly decorated. They suggested elegance.

BD: Well, it’s interesting that Dali talked about the complexity of it and that he didn’t want it to be fully explained away, and that Walt seemed to reduce it to the essence of a love story. But the two of them really were more in synch with the deeper complexities of the imagery. It wasn’t a matter of one having a more complex interpretation than the other.

JH: No, I think they agreed on it.

Bill Desowitz is the editor of VFXWorld.