Bogan also reveals why they removed an action sequence from act two.
With DreamWorks Animations Untamed mind Opening in theaters this weekend, I recently spoke with director Elaine Bogan about creating the animated adventure. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, the film is a heartwarming story of the relationship between a young girl and the wild horse she encounters when she returns home to a small town on the edge of the open border. The cast also includes Isabela Merced, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Walton Goggins, Eiza Gonzalez, Andre Braugher and Eiza Gonzalez. Spirit: Untamed is the next installment in the Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron franchise, which includes an Emmy-winning television series.
During the interview, Bogan talked about how the film changed during production, the challenges of making this film in two years and during a pandemic, how technology has advanced to make animated films even better, why they made an action scene removed the second act from the film, what she would like to know, what it takes to make an animated film, and more.
Check out what she had to say at the top of the player and below is exactly what we talked about, followed by the official recap.
Image via Universal
Elaine Bogan:
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What did she wish she had known on the first day of Spirit Untamed production that she didn’t know?
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What was it like testing the film to see what works during the pandemic?
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How did the film change during production?
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Like from start to finish, they only had two years to make the film.
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Why they removed a sequence from the second act.
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What does she want people to know what it takes to make an animated film?
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What technological hurdle could be overcome in the future in order to make animated films even better?
Here is the official recap from Spirit Untamed:
Spirit Untamed is an epic adventure about a headstrong girl who longs for a place and discovers a kindred spirit when her life crosses with a wild horse. Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the popular DreamWorks Animation story.
Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) knew her late mother Milagro Navarro (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), a fearless stunt performer from Miradero, never really really on the verge of the wide-open Border.
Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which causes her aunt Cora (Academy Award winner Julianne Moore) some concerns. Lucky grew up in a town on the east coast under Cora’s watchful eyes, but when Lucky challenges her own luck with one too many risky antics, Cora takes the bets and brings them both back to Lucky’s father, Jim (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal). in Miradero.
Lucky is decidedly unimpressed by the sleepy town. She changes her mind when she meets Spirit, a ferocious mustang who shares her independent streak and befriends two local riders, Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace, Captain Marvel) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin, Little). Pru’s father, stable owner Al Granger (Emmy-winning Andre Braugher, Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine), is Lucky’s father’s best friend.
As a heartless horse wrangler (Emmy Contestant Walton Goggins, FX’s Justified) and his team plan to capture Spirit and his herd and auction them off for a life of captivity and hard work, Lucky seeks her new friends and bravely embarks on that Adventure of a lifetime to save the horse that gave her freedom and purpose and helped Lucky discover a connection to her mother’s legacy and to her Mexican heritage that she never expected.
Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s popular franchise, which began with Oscar-nominated Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron in 2002 and features an Emmy-winning television series. The film is directed by Elaine Bogan (Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia) and produced by Karen Foster (co-producer of How To Train Your Dragon). The film is co-directed by Ennio Torresan (Head of Story, The Boss Baby), and the score is by composer Amie Doherty (Amazon’s Undone, DreamWorks Animation’s Marooned).
Image via Universal
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Steve Weintraub
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