Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/7700
my back, so I got free travel for a while. And Andre Jacquemin did all the sound design — he's an old friend who did all the Python al- bums, and I had to take advantage of him and he did it for very little money, just so we could get through it." POST: Where did you do the post? How long was the process? GILLIAM: "We did it all in London at Goldcrest in Soho, and it took over six months, as the visual effects shots were al- most two months late." POST: You used two visual effects supervi- sors — Richard Bain and John Paul Docherty. How did that work? GILLIAM: "Paul Docher ty basically runs Peerless, so he was there all the time dealing with that end, and Richard Bain is this bril- liant compositor who's worked on films like Casino Royale and Mission Impossible, and he was in Vancouver with us on the set all the time and working on cer tain stuff. We had previs'd everything, after I'd storyboarded it all — which I don't usually do, but this time I felt it needed stor yboards and I really en- joyed doing it. So I was really on top of it all the whole time, but even so, to be honest, the post on this was just a nightmare. "We were dealing with the insurance company and we didn't know what we'd get until that deal was done. And at Peerless, they didn't want to hire extra crew yet as they didn't even know if this film would ac- tually get finished. It was the worst post I've ever been involved in because of all the un- known elements." POST: The film was edited by Mick Audsley, who worked on Twelve Monkeys with you and who has cut films like Harr y Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Tell us about the editing. GILLIAM: "He's on the set all the time and he's a really wonderful editor.What I love about him is that he used to be a musician, so his cutting is very musical.There are rhythms there and beats, and he began cutting while we were shooting, as we were trying to get far enough along to even see what we had. And then to see what we still needed. So that was the hard part, having to edit while partly still in the dark, as Heath had shot half of his part, but there were still all the scenes on this side of the mirror that he hadn't finished. So how were we going to do those scenes? "When I rewrote it I thought we could do certain bits with doubles, but I realized as we got closer to shooting them that it was- n't going to work.Then there was one scene where we absolutely needed Heath, and he wasn't there, so Mick then said, 'OK, let's try and re-cut the film without that scene and see if it works,' so all the time we were try- ing to invent the solution as we were still shooting. [Laughs]. And at some points the editing was more advanced than you'd nor- mally be, just to see if cer tain scenes were going to work or not. Then after Vancouver, we all moved back to London and contin- ued the editing at Goldcrest." POST: All your films play like fantastic dreams and in this one, the worlds behind the mirror are dreams-within-dreams. How did you approach that? GILLIAM: "I wanted to create worlds that weren't naturalistic, that were closer to paintings and animation — but yet they had to be totally believable.You had to feel you're actually in there. I'd draw stuff, we'd star t building and then get into all the CG. What's interesting is these guys on computers are so used to doing naturalism that when you give it a slight, painterly twist, it was hard work. And it should have been simpler! "It was less demanding in detail and so on, but they had to be more ar tistic, and a lot of them are just not. If you ask for a leaf, they'll make you a perfect one. But if you want a painted leaf, they're a bit at a loss. I remember I had trouble explaining how the clouds should look in one sequence, so I went home, Googled a tons of images, did a quick collage and said, 'That's what I want.' And that's the advantage I have, of being able to draw and use Photoshop and so on. "Anyway, we created these amazing worlds that don't exist, but each one had reference points and sources. So the big lad- der one is Grant Wood, the American land- scape painter, and the boat sequence was supposed to be Maxfield Parrish, though we didn't quite get it right. The big problem is trying to control effects people as they're all showing off, and I was like 'We've got a lim- ited budget — just do this! Don't show off!'" POST: They have a ver y Monty Python- esque feel. GILLIAM: "Exactly. It was a chance to do my animations, but much more elaborately. Instead of just cut-outs, they're 3D environ- ments and real hybrids of CG, animation and bluescreen.We'd build part of the set, so the actors had spaces to work in, and we also did a lot of model work and then added CG elements. They're all just tools, and I'd go with whichever one was the most efficient — and cheapest [laughs]." POST: It seems like there's such a trend now toward hybrid films that mix live action, vi- sual effects and animation? GILLIAM: "There's a lot of confusion about hybrids and the whole subject of ani- mation, and the truth is, so many of the big films today have some kind of animation, from Harry Potter to the big comic book films like Transformers and Iron Man, even if you wouldn't call them 'animated films.' My theory was, use animation because it's cheaper and it'd give me more freedom.There's no doubt that this trend of hybrid films will grow, simply because animated films — however you de- fine them — are the most successful movies being made today, which is fantastic. So film- makers want to make them, but you're not going to get $200 million to do a Pixar [film], so for those of us with far smaller budgets, we become hybrid makers." POST: What's next? GILLIAM: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. We're resurrecting the old bastard! My plan is to star t in spring, and we'll see if it's just a dream or reality." Post took place at Goldcrest in London. Mick Audsley edited. www.postmagazine.com March 2010 • Post 13