Back in the early 1980s my parents were amongst the first in our neighborhood to get a VCR but we were also in a weird area that didnt get the regular cable channels. So we just had one cable channel WHT. I have no idea what it stood for and we would do our best to tape our favorite movies. Now WHT used to show about eight movies a day and in-between their feature length films they would show shorts. One short that got stuck on our tape of The Blues Brothers was the claymation film Dinosaur, directed by Will Vinton. That along with the work of Ray Harryhausen helped stir my lifelong love of animation. Thats why it was such a pleasure to get to interview Will Vinton about his first comic book work ever, Jack Hightower. Jack Hightower was the tallest, toughest and most suave secret agent in the business until his archenemy shrunk him down to ten inches. Now hes the shortest, toughest and most suave secret agent and is featured in his own graphic novel.
Check out the official website for Jack Hightower
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Will Vinton: Were in the process of getting out a teaser for Jack Hightower.
DRE: What are you doing it for?
Will: Needless to say Jack Hightower would make a good movie so were putting together a little teaser and some stuff. Ive done a bunch of animation with ten inch tall characters in live action worlds. We did a Nissan ad years ago where an Indiana Jones-type action figure type jumps in a car and races off and picks up the babe in the dollhouse. It was a really popular commercial. We also did a bunch with Fox NFL where Terry Bradshaw and his compatriots were these little guys trying to infiltrate various athletes homes and whatnot. So the combination of those things has inspired Jack in some ways.
DRE: Was Jack Hightower always meant to be a comic?
Will: Absolutely but Id love to see Jack get animated too. That would be the frosting on the cake.
DRE: So it would be a mixture of animation and live action?
Will: Yes, it is a live action world with a ten inch tall live character. It wouldnt be a Tom Thumb type thing because Jack is built like he is in the graphic novel. He has to wear clothes that he can find along the way or get people to make for him like Ken doll stuff.
DRE: Have you done comics before?
Will: No, I havent done comics before. [Founder, president, and publisher of Dark Horse Comics] Mike Richardson is a friend and I went to him first and said, What do you think about doing this as a graphic novel? He was all over it immediately. I thought, Gee, this is going to be fun to do something different and quick then two years later, the book finally comes out.
DRE: You co-wrote and co-created it with Andrew Wiese, was he someone that worked in your studio?
Will: Andrew is actually my ongoing writing partner. He and I are writing a lot of things together. Were doing screenplays and stuff, mostly animated things or special effects oriented things.
DRE: How long has he been your writing partner for?
Will: Three years since I left Will Vinton Studios. Ive really been focusing on development of new projects and ideas and exclusively with Andrew for the writing stuff.
DRE: Was Jack Hightower created from sketches that you did?
Will: It was. Im a lousy artist. Ive always hired better artists than me so I did some thumbnail sketches and I even storyboarded the whole book. But I always rely on people better than me to do the good stuff. So when we started I knew what he looked like. The writing process was pretty cool. Its like writing a screenplay, sort of. We did very detailed panel descriptions plus dialogue captions. Our first draft was enormous. It would be a 250 to 300 page graphic novel if wed done it that way so we had to really curtail it which is good because its still 150 pages. It gets all the origin stuff out of the way which will probably make the second book that much better.
DRE: Are stories about secret agents something you have an affinity for?
Will: I like the secret agent genre. Its a good one to poke fun at and parody a little bit. We treat Jack like hes a real guy now. Hes got his own MySpace page and his own personal, celebrity website. So he has a life of his own, hes not like Andrew or me but he dictates where were going next. Its fun.
DRE: How did you select Fabio Laguna to be the artist?
Will: Dark Horse gave us a huge list of possible people and I knew a bunch of great illustrators. So we just went through and narrowed it down and found Fabio. Hes a great young guy based in Brazil. We started up a relationship with him and its wild because we got to know each other only through the internet.
DRE: Is the experience of seeing the comic book artwork come in much different than seeing completed animation?
Will: That parts similar in some ways. I worked with artists for years so it was pretty natural. There were some things and sequences that we felt we had to redo a little bit because we felt that we just werent telling the story very well or it just wasnt visualized quite right so we changed it. But for most part, we went through it pretty fast. Fabio did the final pencils and inks then we had another person, Rain Beredo, do the coloring which turned out pretty well. She is based in the Philippines so it is an international collaboration.
DRE: Have you written a screenplay for Jack Hightower?
Will: No, were really working on the second graphic novel. But Im going to LA tomorrow and were going to be talking to people about it and showing them some of the footage weve put together. Ive already gotten some interest from fellow producers whove seen it.
DRE: Will Jack Hightowers origin change when it becomes a movie?
Will: At this point, I would say that a lot of the graphic novel would be used. The first episode of anything has a lot of exposition. Its more fun when you get past that. I really like the second book were doing. Its more pure action and adventure right from the get go without much explanation.
DRE: I read that you just finished another short film The Morning After.
Will: Morning After is a short that I did. Its a mix of live action animation and it is about a love story between a bear and a young lady. Its something that Id also like to do, perhaps in some other form as well. Im currently working on a 20 minute short called The Martial Artist. Its a mix of animation and graphic novel illustrations. The Martial Artist is the name of the graphic novel that this young person is creating.
DRE: Have you ever directed a feature?
Will: No, well I did an animated feature, The Adventures of Mark Twain and Ive done been involved in feature projects where I directed segments. But not a live action one.
DRE: It sounds like youve wanted to make a feature for a long time.
Will: Since I left the studio I decided that I really wanted to do my own projects. Id built the company for 25 years plus and about 98% of what I did was really cool stuff and Im very proud of the work and of the artistry but it was stuff that I probably wouldnt have done on my own. In other words, so much of it was commercial work for other people or executing other peoples ideas. Now I want to focus on things that I want, things that amuse me both in terms of film and exploring other things like the graphic novel.
DRE: Recently, I got a chance to interview John Hodgman, who is appearing in these Mac commercials. I asked him what he thought of all the press the ad campaign is getting. He said that he was really surprised that anyone cares this much about a company advertising their products. That brings me to my question, are you amazed at the longevity of things like the California Raisins and the M&M characters?
Will: Yes, it is amazing. Its incredible how some of these things touch a nerve with people and they hold on to them. There was a time when I felt like the only thing that was going to be written on my tombstone was Raisin Man or something. It seemed like that was all anybody wanted to talk about. The raisins came at the 15th year of my career. At that point I had four Academy Award nominations, won an Oscar and a couple of Emmys and people would ask me in an interview, The raisins are just great, what does it feel like to be an overnight success? You just go, Ive been doing this for a while.
DRE: I always thought a Dreamgirls parody with the raisins might be good.
Will: Thats great, actually.
DRE: Stop motion animation is going through a renaissance even though some of the recent stop motion films didnt do very well. Has this renaissance affected you?
Will: Well, its great to see. I love to see that all kinds of media are alive and well but now that Ive left the studio I dont have to do claymation or even computer animation. I am really focused on figuring out the best way to do a particular idea. As a result Andrew and I wrote a screenplay and it looks like it may get made as a very low budget stop motion animation film. It has to be stop motion because its almost homage to stop motion films. Having said that it will be a stop motion film, itll still be 50 to 60 percent computer generated. People dont realize how great the computer is for stop motion. Corpse Bride was a nice mixture of stop motion and CG effects. I think stop motion will always have a niche where youre looking for a particular slightly funky little mannequins come to life but it doesnt mean that CG wont be a better tool to do that in the future which is sad in some ways.
DRE: Are you doing commercials and things like that with the new studio?
Will: No, Im not doing any commercials. Havent done one for three years. Im just focusing on new things and really enjoying it.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official website for Jack Hightower
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Will Vinton: Were in the process of getting out a teaser for Jack Hightower.
DRE: What are you doing it for?
Will: Needless to say Jack Hightower would make a good movie so were putting together a little teaser and some stuff. Ive done a bunch of animation with ten inch tall characters in live action worlds. We did a Nissan ad years ago where an Indiana Jones-type action figure type jumps in a car and races off and picks up the babe in the dollhouse. It was a really popular commercial. We also did a bunch with Fox NFL where Terry Bradshaw and his compatriots were these little guys trying to infiltrate various athletes homes and whatnot. So the combination of those things has inspired Jack in some ways.
DRE: Was Jack Hightower always meant to be a comic?
Will: Absolutely but Id love to see Jack get animated too. That would be the frosting on the cake.
DRE: So it would be a mixture of animation and live action?
Will: Yes, it is a live action world with a ten inch tall live character. It wouldnt be a Tom Thumb type thing because Jack is built like he is in the graphic novel. He has to wear clothes that he can find along the way or get people to make for him like Ken doll stuff.
DRE: Have you done comics before?
Will: No, I havent done comics before. [Founder, president, and publisher of Dark Horse Comics] Mike Richardson is a friend and I went to him first and said, What do you think about doing this as a graphic novel? He was all over it immediately. I thought, Gee, this is going to be fun to do something different and quick then two years later, the book finally comes out.
DRE: You co-wrote and co-created it with Andrew Wiese, was he someone that worked in your studio?
Will: Andrew is actually my ongoing writing partner. He and I are writing a lot of things together. Were doing screenplays and stuff, mostly animated things or special effects oriented things.
DRE: How long has he been your writing partner for?
Will: Three years since I left Will Vinton Studios. Ive really been focusing on development of new projects and ideas and exclusively with Andrew for the writing stuff.
DRE: Was Jack Hightower created from sketches that you did?
Will: It was. Im a lousy artist. Ive always hired better artists than me so I did some thumbnail sketches and I even storyboarded the whole book. But I always rely on people better than me to do the good stuff. So when we started I knew what he looked like. The writing process was pretty cool. Its like writing a screenplay, sort of. We did very detailed panel descriptions plus dialogue captions. Our first draft was enormous. It would be a 250 to 300 page graphic novel if wed done it that way so we had to really curtail it which is good because its still 150 pages. It gets all the origin stuff out of the way which will probably make the second book that much better.
DRE: Are stories about secret agents something you have an affinity for?
Will: I like the secret agent genre. Its a good one to poke fun at and parody a little bit. We treat Jack like hes a real guy now. Hes got his own MySpace page and his own personal, celebrity website. So he has a life of his own, hes not like Andrew or me but he dictates where were going next. Its fun.
DRE: How did you select Fabio Laguna to be the artist?
Will: Dark Horse gave us a huge list of possible people and I knew a bunch of great illustrators. So we just went through and narrowed it down and found Fabio. Hes a great young guy based in Brazil. We started up a relationship with him and its wild because we got to know each other only through the internet.
DRE: Is the experience of seeing the comic book artwork come in much different than seeing completed animation?
Will: That parts similar in some ways. I worked with artists for years so it was pretty natural. There were some things and sequences that we felt we had to redo a little bit because we felt that we just werent telling the story very well or it just wasnt visualized quite right so we changed it. But for most part, we went through it pretty fast. Fabio did the final pencils and inks then we had another person, Rain Beredo, do the coloring which turned out pretty well. She is based in the Philippines so it is an international collaboration.
DRE: Have you written a screenplay for Jack Hightower?
Will: No, were really working on the second graphic novel. But Im going to LA tomorrow and were going to be talking to people about it and showing them some of the footage weve put together. Ive already gotten some interest from fellow producers whove seen it.
DRE: Will Jack Hightowers origin change when it becomes a movie?
Will: At this point, I would say that a lot of the graphic novel would be used. The first episode of anything has a lot of exposition. Its more fun when you get past that. I really like the second book were doing. Its more pure action and adventure right from the get go without much explanation.
DRE: I read that you just finished another short film The Morning After.
Will: Morning After is a short that I did. Its a mix of live action animation and it is about a love story between a bear and a young lady. Its something that Id also like to do, perhaps in some other form as well. Im currently working on a 20 minute short called The Martial Artist. Its a mix of animation and graphic novel illustrations. The Martial Artist is the name of the graphic novel that this young person is creating.
DRE: Have you ever directed a feature?
Will: No, well I did an animated feature, The Adventures of Mark Twain and Ive done been involved in feature projects where I directed segments. But not a live action one.
DRE: It sounds like youve wanted to make a feature for a long time.
Will: Since I left the studio I decided that I really wanted to do my own projects. Id built the company for 25 years plus and about 98% of what I did was really cool stuff and Im very proud of the work and of the artistry but it was stuff that I probably wouldnt have done on my own. In other words, so much of it was commercial work for other people or executing other peoples ideas. Now I want to focus on things that I want, things that amuse me both in terms of film and exploring other things like the graphic novel.
DRE: Recently, I got a chance to interview John Hodgman, who is appearing in these Mac commercials. I asked him what he thought of all the press the ad campaign is getting. He said that he was really surprised that anyone cares this much about a company advertising their products. That brings me to my question, are you amazed at the longevity of things like the California Raisins and the M&M characters?
Will: Yes, it is amazing. Its incredible how some of these things touch a nerve with people and they hold on to them. There was a time when I felt like the only thing that was going to be written on my tombstone was Raisin Man or something. It seemed like that was all anybody wanted to talk about. The raisins came at the 15th year of my career. At that point I had four Academy Award nominations, won an Oscar and a couple of Emmys and people would ask me in an interview, The raisins are just great, what does it feel like to be an overnight success? You just go, Ive been doing this for a while.
DRE: I always thought a Dreamgirls parody with the raisins might be good.
Will: Thats great, actually.
DRE: Stop motion animation is going through a renaissance even though some of the recent stop motion films didnt do very well. Has this renaissance affected you?
Will: Well, its great to see. I love to see that all kinds of media are alive and well but now that Ive left the studio I dont have to do claymation or even computer animation. I am really focused on figuring out the best way to do a particular idea. As a result Andrew and I wrote a screenplay and it looks like it may get made as a very low budget stop motion animation film. It has to be stop motion because its almost homage to stop motion films. Having said that it will be a stop motion film, itll still be 50 to 60 percent computer generated. People dont realize how great the computer is for stop motion. Corpse Bride was a nice mixture of stop motion and CG effects. I think stop motion will always have a niche where youre looking for a particular slightly funky little mannequins come to life but it doesnt mean that CG wont be a better tool to do that in the future which is sad in some ways.
DRE: Are you doing commercials and things like that with the new studio?
Will: No, Im not doing any commercials. Havent done one for three years. Im just focusing on new things and really enjoying it.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck