DS:  You say you were at Harvard before you went to the UK.  What did you study at Harvard?

TR:  I studied history and literature.  I knew I wanted to do film when I was getting out of high school.  During the college application process, I knew that as a career goal I wanted to do film but I also thought it was worthwhile getting some kind of liberal arts degree.  To study content before I studied form…before learning how to tell a story, first I wanted to know about some of the stories already out there.  That’s why I studied history and literature at Harvard.  But I still kept wanting to make films.  I actually got into animation because all of my friends were too busy to act in my video projects.  That was how I did it in high school.  So I went into animation as a way to make films by myself.

DS:  A “DIY” guy.

TR:  Yeah.  So I was holed up in a closet for the first few projects I did at Harvard.  Of course, this NFTS film was hardly a solo project.  One of the really great things about directing animation is the opportunity to collaborate with people.  I love working with people.  I’ve fallen in love with the medium since that marriage of convenience at the beginning.

DS:  Right.  So with your first real film, you get an Oscar nomination.  What was your reaction when you heard the news?

TR:  I spent so much energy preparing to be disappointed, preparing to let myself down easy that when we heard the good news, I didn’t really know how to react.  I kind of just sat there.  I think I was checking to see if they had spelled my name right.  Meanwhile, in the background, my brother and my girlfriend were jumping up in the air, whooping and hollering.  I looked back and thought, “Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.”  Then I caught on and joined in.  But it was such a surprise that it took me a few seconds.

DS:  I’m sure it was quite the shock.

TR:  Yeah.

DS:  Last question.  Coming off of this experience, what would you say is the most important thing you learned making this film?

TR:  Head Over Heels was a new direction for me.  I always wanted to follow in the footsteps of Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton, to do something that was a little bit more intellectual eye candy.  This was the first time that I really buckled down to try and do something that had a genuine emotional payoff for the audience.  I guess I saw one too many Pixar films that made me cry and thought, “Good grief, I have to see if I can do that.”  Ultimately I think it’s more challenging and it’s really a bigger feat to try to tackle, to attempt to make that connection with the audience.  So I think the big lesson from here on in for me is to always try and find that emotional truth in a story and really make sure that’s coming across.  That’s what people will come away with.  You want to hit them on a gut level.  People will forget about a clever movie but I think they really remember how a film made them “feel.” That’s a lot more rewarding to do because it’s much harder to do.  I’m going to try and continue in that direction.

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Dan Sarto is editor-in-chief and publisher of Animation World Network.