Off to the Fox Lot

After screening at Sony, the next stop of the tour was 20th Century Fox. After Ron Diamond, publisher of AWN, introduced the filmmakers to the studios execs in the audience, the group took the chance to walk around the back lot and grab a couple of coffee.

Talking to Even Pigeons Go to Heaven producer Simon Vanesse, we learned that he began his career in IT. He mentioned that being one of the few producers who speaks English at BUF has helped him get on big American production. Most of the time he works as a visual effects producer, having worked on The Prestige. He’s currently working on Speed Racer. When asked about his tux for the Oscars, he said he did the “pretty girl thing” and called around Paris saying he was an Oscar nominee. When he went into the store it was closed, but they opened it especially for him, where he had the pick of the place for his Oscar attire. With the topic of tuxes in the air, Even Pigeons Go to Heaven director Sam Tourneux wondered whether he’ll look like a penguin if he wears a bowtie and Simon joked that he could just say he’s with the Surf’s Up team.

During the Q&A, Hutch Parker, President of Production at 20th Century Fox, gave the nominees great praise for the exceptional collective work of this year’s films. He added that the five nominated films show the vast wealth of style and story that animation covers. As usual, the questions tackled many of the same territory. But Fox Animation president Vanessa Morrison did ask what the directors are up to next. Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis said he and his co-director Maciek Szczerbowski where working on a new short and a feature project. I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin said he’s currently working on music he creates by cutting together bits of musicians he likes. Peter and the Wolf director Suzie Templeton has just moved to Amsterdam and hopes to produce a feature next. And last, but not least, Sam is developing a feature based on some of the same element from his Oscar nominated short.