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Story: Jack Foley
BRAD Bird, the creative genius behind the latest Pixar success,
The Incredibles, dropped into the London Film Festival on Wednesday
(October 27, 2004) to discuss and illustrate the creative and
technical process that led to the creation of his long standing
project.
The workshop took place at the NFT, hours before the film received
its premiere at the showpiece film event.
The Incredibles centres around a collection of superheroes who
must gradually come to terms with the fact that their presence
- and heroism - is no longer wanted in the world.
It is voiced by the likes of Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter and
Jason Lee, and proved one of the biggest audience draws of the
two-week event.
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Yet, while it undoubtedly marks another
monster hit for Pixar (the team behind Toy Story and Finding Nemo),
it also marks a change of direction, somewhat, to the usual formula.
Bird is a newcomer to the Pixar team, having been invited by
John Lasseter, and his vision is a much darker, altogether more
adult affair, that actually shows the consequences of the superhero
lifestyle.
Hence, people are seen to die - even in animated form.
And speaking at a press conference held on the same day as the
workshop, he made no apology for the change in style.
"I like genuine jeopardy in movies and I think that sometimes
people are so well-intentioned about protecting their children
that they create these shows that are designed about superheroes
bashing each other about for about half an hour, but there's no
consequences to it.
"These shows are built around violence but no one ever gets
injured, no one ever dies, and to me that's a far worse message
to give a kid, than to have a world where there's actual jeopardy
and prices are paid."
The film is due to open world-wide in November.
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