Ice Age 2 - Carlos Saldanha interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
CARLOS Saldanha was co-director on the hit film Ice Age and again on last year’s animated hit, Robots. He was nominated for an Oscar for directing the animated short film Gone Nutty featuring Ice Age’s Scrat. Here he talks about the challenge of delivering the sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown…
Q: How easy was it to make this film, given that the first Ice Age was such a big hit?
A: In some ways it was easy because I love the characters and know them, so we didn’t have to worry about that at all. We had already established the main characters. But the down side and the challenge for me, was that because the first one was such a success, that made the responsibility for the second one even bigger. We wanted this to be a special sequel that people would enjoy with the same intensity that they loved the original.
Q: Can you talk specifically about this film and the journey of the animals in Ice Age 2? What is this one about really, from your perspective?
A: In the first film we focused on the dysfunctional family, the three characters from different backgrounds who didn’t like each other, didn’t know each other and came together to become a family. For this one, we already had the family, so we wanted the film to be more about the animals’ individual journeys. It is more about each one of them finding themselves and facing their fears. The movie is about friendship and helping each other to overcome individual challenges and problems.
Q: In the film the animals are worried that the valley is about to be flooded. What was your reaction when your film was mirrored by real life, with Katrina happening and floods in Louisiana in the American South?
A: We had experienced something similar in the first film, which was strange. We were in production on Ice Age when 9/11 happened. I was driving to work in New York as the buildings were collapsing behind me. Then we could see the skyline of the city and we could see the Twin Towers collapsing. It was very emotional. At the time of the opening of our movie, there were glaciers collapsing over Scrat. When we were making this film, so much seemed to happen in the world, it was a mess. And our movie talked about some real issues such as the meltdown and global warming and glaciers melting. There were parallels to the real world, which we just embraced, but this is a cartoon and it is entertainment.
Q: Can you talk about the themes in this film?
A: We looked for real themes and emotions that people could relate too. We were looking at animals going extinct. In the first movie, Manny lost his family because of humans killing them. In the second one, he is faced with the prospect of possibly being the last one of his kind. So we wanted to look at that fear, what would that feel like? All the other animals are also facing extinction because of the weather. It comes down to principles, doing the right thing and facing challenges.
Q: Why were you keen to cast Queen Latifah in the role of Ellie?
A: When I figured out that I wanted a mammoth who thought she was a possum, I had no other name in my head. I knew she would be great and I really hoped that she would do it. Her voice just sprang to mind immediately. When she came on board I was so happy. I always think about what the characters can add to the movie. Queen Latifah not only has a beautiful voice, but she is a person who cares about other people. She is involved in very good causes. She is warm and endearing and with all the sweetness, she is an amazingly strong woman. I thought that she was going to be perfect for Ellie and she is.
Q: Why do you think Ray Romano is so good as Manny?
A: Ray has a great voice and personality. I look at him and I do not see the series he did on TV, I just see Manny. He is very warm when he talks to you, he is a nice guy. We wanted Manny to feel like a curmudgeonly kind of guy, but who also has a good heart. He brings some warmth to the movie.
Q: Talk about Scrat, such an integral and fantastically entertaining part of this film?
A: Well Scrat is a character who came out of the idea of opening the first film with a little guy against the big disaster, with the glaciers collapsing. He came to life with Chris Wedge’s voice (the director of the first Ice Age film). We always loved him and the sequences were fun to animate. We would prepare by filming squirrels in a park to see how they moved around. So it was fun to develop that character. People were in love with that guy in Ice Age. So we decided to come up with little sequences with him throughout this movie, then we made him part of the plot, part of the film. But the challenge was finding out how we could do that without taking away the special element of Scrat, which is the surprise when he pops up unexpectedly. So that is what we did.
Q: Stylistically and visually what were you setting out to achieve, it is actually very beautiful to watch?
A: Because it is The Meltdown, I wanted it to feel more like spring. It moves from spring to summer but I didn’t want it to become too complex visually. I wanted a lot of greens and I wanted to explore a different colour palette. It has a little bit of romance, so I planned that the movie would feel warmer than the last one, to express the warmth of the relationships between the animals.
Q: It must have been fun creating the ice slide, where we see the animals swirling around on a kind of natural rollercoaster?
A: That was fun. The idea was that the animals would think “how can we make the best of this melting world?” So we decided to build a waterpark, an amusement park, where everybody, all the characters are enjoying the fun.
Q: How challenging is it making a film like this?
A: It’s a lot of work. I have to be very organized and do everything on the clock throughout the day with a booked schedule. I have long hours and every 15 minutes is accounted for. I have to have meetings, approve characters, approve settings; I have talk to the animators and the crew. In a full day I have to do the rounds and talk to every department in the whole company. I need to keep the momentum in order to meet the schedule of making the movie. It means being precise and regimented. That way of working is good for me because it keeps me focused.