When I spoke to Doug, I really put my foot in it. Doug and his Publicist John I both consider friends, for a couple of years now, I’ve kept in touch with both of them on and off and I hate the feeling I may have said something that left Doug with a bad impression of me. Now and then I don’t think about what I say. When we spoke about Quarantine, which he starred in, the way I spoke about it, it really came across as me trashing the crap out of it.

Now, I’ve never ever been shy about being honest on my opinions, my interview with Uwe Boll a couple years back, I told him exactly what I thought (politely) and he was grateful for my honesty given I watched his movies then judged his work. With Dougs situation, he was the man in the attic at the end of Quarantine, the sort of remake of [REC]. To clarify, I DO like Quarantine, I think Dougs work in it is very creepy, very eerie, and all due sincere heartfelt apologies to Doug if I at all gave him that impression! Much love Doug!

So now that’s been said, let’s skip straight to it. To those who haven’t read how I do my interview, I like to keep them sectioned and to the point. Enjoy:

On Hellboy 2:

Steve: Hellboy 2, I loved it.

Doug: Thank you!

Steve: I hope to god there’s a Hellboy 3. Because even if it didn’t do The Dark Knight numbers it did well, and it’s got a great home on dvd and has a cult following. Where would you like to see it going? Any ideas?

Doug: As far as plot twists and turns I have NO idea! That would be like asking genius Guillermo Del Toro to listen to my little ideas! ‘Hey Einstein! I have a different relativity theory to discuss with you!’ *laughs*

Steve: We learned this summer in TF2 that Shia’s smarter than Einstein! *laughs*

Doug: Yeah! It could happen! But seriously I’d like to see perhaps, the continuation of perhaps what the Angel of Death was talking about with the destiny of Hellboy, bringing about the destruction of the earth? Um, that was a line of mine as the Angel of Death that I’d love to see! You know, with Liz Sherman and the huge choice she’d have to make, ‘The time will come my dear and you will suffer more than anyone!’ I wanna SEE that! The twins, she’s carrying two babies at the end of the film, she’s carrying two babies! What’s gonna happen with that? I imagine that these children of Hellboy will have something to do with a part 3, the continuation of the story. Do we watch them grow and become opposites. You know, opposite foes of each other, or do we watch them be a team? I dunno. Also, what kinda, a little hope of mine, I’d love to see Abe Sapien find a way to go back to the Golden Army chamber with some sort of magical secret fluid or potion or something to bring that marble statue of Princess Nuala back to life.

Steve: It was so tragic, I mean you understand why…

Doug: Oh of course! I was heartbroken! I was in tears filming that scene!

Steve: Yeah! The thing is, a lot of people know Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) from BROS, the boyband back in the 80s/90s.

Doug: Right!

Steve: I’ve seen him in I think one other movie where he wasn’t under the guidance of Guillermo. But Guillermo manages to get some sort of performance out of him that you just cant… I mean look at him in Blade 2, he was fantastic. In Hellboy 2 as Nuada, he was unbelievable! The guy, I couldn’t believe… how do I put this. Was he doing most of his own martial arts and stunt work???

Doug: It’s a bit of a combo platter. I tell you he, I’ve never seen an actor as dedicated to becoming a character as Luke Goss. He, the training he did, the diet he kept himself on to keep himself as ripped as he is. The martial arts training, he worked with those guys for over a month before we started filming and then during his downtime filming during those six months, he was with the stunt team with sticks and swords in his hands, spinning, flying, tumbling… the man was unstoppable!!! I knew as soon as that film was over, I can only IMAGINE the cheeseburger , the size of it he would’ve been eating!

Steve: Recently you had Hellboy 2 come to fruition in a way, we just had the Chainsaw awards!

Doug: Yeah! Oh yeah!!!

Steve: Hellboy 2 did really well, care to tell people what you got?

Doug: Do I care to??? I want to shout it out my window to the neighborhood what I got! *laughs*

Steve: Would you literally do that???

Doug: I would! I would! I’ve been nominated for a few awards before, but this is my first win. Fangoria Chainsaw awards honored me with “Best Supporting Actor: Hellboy 2”.

Steve: That’s fantastic.

Doug: Yeah I’m tickled pink with it! Not only that but they also, and this is a voted on type of award from the readership. They also had the chance to nominate, the readers could nominate someone for the hall of fame! So Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Hall of Fame, sees 3 inductees this year, myself being one and I’m absolutely beyond belief, ticked and humbled by that response from the united media and from the readership.

Steve: To put that in perspective for people a bit, I was reading the other night, Im sure it’s right, not even Boris Karloff or anyone else like that is in there yet. I think so… [doublechecks the fangoria site].

Doug: Wow, when it comes to names like that, that’s… that’s mind boggling. Another mind boggling moment I had, was Empire magazine in the UK, we did a countdown of their top ten favorite performances under prosthetic makeup of all time, and they ranked me up at number 2 under Boris Karloff for Frankenstein. It was for my performance as the Faun in Pans Labyrinth. I was absolutely tickled pink beyond belief. Seeing Lon Chaney listed at number four I was like ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME! ARE YOU JOKING ME???’

Steve: Yeah found the comment here from Fangoria… seems that Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Anthony Perkins and others of their like haven’t been inducted yet.

Doug: Is that right!?

Steve: Happy to see Forrest Ackerman and Roger Corman got in. To me that’s a MASSIVE deal!

Doug: A MASSIVE deal!!! The gravity of it has indeed just hit me. I’m well and truly, truly humbled!

Steve: Not that you don’t deserve it though.

Doug: Yeah I’ve put in my time. I feel I’m only half way done with my career. I don’t want to ever find any of this kind of recognition to be a plateau. I don’t wanna ever find a resting place. I do want to keep going onward and upward, finding new challenges, finding new characters to play that can surprise an audience or tickle them, scare them again.

Steve: Oh hell yeah. Definitely.

(Briefly) On the Hobbit, serving Gollum drinks and surfing moths:

Steve: Just to satisfy peoples cravings for news about The Hobbit and Frankenstein. All I require is a one word answer from you… *laughs*

Doug: Oh.. oh dear! *laughs* If Im inspired to give more words can I or not?

Steve: Of course! No Doug you can’t! *laughs*

Doug: *laughs*

Steve: Now, there is NO new news on either project is there.

Doug: That is correct! Oh shoot! That’s three words isn’t it! Wait… yes… wait that would imply there is! I mean… correct!!!! *laughs* I’m not good at these one word games am I!

Steve: *laughs*

Doug: Now by the same token I don’t want people to think I’m sitting here in a huff with my arms folded, thinking ‘Don’t ask me that at all!’ I’m actually very very tickled and very ah, excited myself at whatever prospect jobs in the future, and the fandom and those who want to watch these two movies. Of course they’re excited and I’m glad they are. I’ve never had movie projects this talked about this far in advance of actually filming them EVER!!! Again, I’m saying filming them as if I’m doing that, but still, I have no confirmation of if or what I’m doing.

Steve: How would you feel about working with Andy Serkis?

Doug: Oh my god I’m fanning my face! You know I’ve never met Andy Serkis but we both get asked the same question. I think we’ve both got the same response each time which is ‘I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET HIM!!!!’ I just wanna, I just hope some of it rubs off, whatever, the mans a genius and um, I would love to work with him, if we could even do a scene together where I’m a troll waiter I’d be the happiest guy! I’d be waiting on Gollum as a goblin! I’d be so happy ‘Can I get you any more ale!!!’

Some fans ask some questions and get some (abridged) answers! (Only slightly)

Steve: We have some fan questions now…

Doug: Oh great!!! I love these!

Steve: Ok the first is from Mickey…

Doug: Hi Mickey!

Steve: Mickey asks “Have you ever been in a weirder situation filming a movie than having to have a moth wrangler keep a moth alive in your mouth so you could spit it out in Hocus Pocus… what was it like?”

Doug: Ohhhh my word… Yes but I’d say that ranks right up there with something I never dreamt of as a child!! I never thought one day I’d be in a movie called Hocus Pocus with a moth Wrangler arranging that very thing you just described and trying to keep the moth dry and alive when I coughed him out. We did Hocus Pocus before CG is what it is, now they could do it later, but we had to do it take after take making sure the moth flew in the right direction, with the right flutter… it took a LOT of work!

Steve: How did you feel having a moth inside of your mouth!?

Doug: I had a sheath in there, like a thin piece of latex to keep them or my tongue separated because if it got moist at all, it wouldn’t fly. They’re very dry, so if they get moist at all, they can’t fly. So they glued my metal stitches together, so I had to do the whole action like, pop open the stitches and cover my mouth, cough out dust and those moths and say my first line of dialogue in the film! We got everything set, the cup that held the dirt was in my mouth, the sheath was on my tongue to keep the moisture off the moths, oh god, when you feel a live being fluttering in your mouth you have to go ‘Its not there!’. So they glued the stitches together and were about to call ‘ACTION’ and then a light blew out! It was like ‘Oh no what happened!’ So I’m sitting there and my saliva glands are working overtime as they do right! So I could feel the water level rising, and it’s like I’m thinking ‘theyre not gonna get those lights fixed in time’ and sure enough when they did, I cut open the stitches and coughed out a cup of mud and a couple moths surfing on a string of drool!

Steve: Eeeewww!!!

Doug: Aaaaand CUT! So what you saw in Hocus Pocus WAS take two!

Steve: Ok so the next question comes from Daniel Uribe. He asks ‘Some of your recent roles involved heavy special effects which basically defined the character as much as Andy Serkis’s character Gollum did in the LOTR trilogy. These kinds of roles will become more common in the future thanks to CGI and motion capture. How do you feel about playing them, as opposed to prosthetic?’

Doug: That’s a great question, I can only say, unbeknownst to most people, I have not done much motion capture. Everything you’ve seen me in in feature films has been prosthetic makeup. The only time I did motion capture where I wore a leotard with dots on it, and they did a thing that moved over me later, was for a tv commercial. It was for some sort of mattress company like fifteen years ago. Other than that, even when I did the Silver Surfer, that was a technology that wasn’t what you would really call motion capture, I was in makeup, in a costume that looked like the Silver Surfer was sculpted by Jose Fernandez over at Spectral Motion Creature shop and then WETA digital did a combo platter together, where they did layers of coding over the silver surfer that combined effort with practical and visual shots, made the Silver Surfer the stunning beauty that he was. When the Surfer was powered down, and was more tarnished looking in captivity, that was the practicle effects makeup on me. That’s what you were looking at with some cg on the eyes to take the blue away. So when it comes to this question, I don’t have enough experience with mocap to have a very, prophetic and ah, opinion on the future of it, but I love what Andy Serkis has to say about it and I think you’d agree that any actor plays a part. Period. Wether you are wearing a light dusting of powder and a tshirt and jeans for that role or if you’re playing a monster on all fours in a heavy costume suit or a leotard with dots on it, the… you still have to find the heart and soul of that character to do it, period. If your makeup is applied before, or after you film, you’re supposed to give an acting performance, the heart and soul does not change really, it’s the same wether youre wearing makeup or dots. That’s basically what I think.

(There are many more questions, believe me it goes for over an hour and would take the length of a book to scribe it all down guys, We’ll have links up and running soon with the files so you can hear them!)

Steve: Heres one from Guy Barton from London, currently residing in Scotland… Guy would like to know ‘Would you say you were personally drawn to the darker type of role as a lot of your roles seem to teeter on that kind of area?’

Doug: Hmmmm… am I DRAWN to them? Or do they just come and find me… I think it’s the latter honestly. But once they do come and find me, here’s what I love about them, my favorite kind of character is one who hints at both darkness and a hopeful light. When you look at a character like the faun from Pans Labyrinth, there’s a primo example for me. A character where you didn’t know if he was good or bad til the very end. That gives me a LOT to play with as an actor. Another character might be something like say, there’s a tv series here in the states called ‘Fear Itself’ its like ‘Masters of Horror’ if you’re familiar with that. My episode was called ‘Skin and Bones’ and I played a regular guy who went away camping and came home possessed with a Wendigo spirit in him! So he wanted to cannibalize his whole family.

Steve: As you do!

Doug: Well yeah ! They were yummy!

“There’s love!” – Doug Jones.

Hello, sportsfans. It’s David A. Barrios and here comes another prime interview; this time with fitness expert and exercise icon Denise Austin. She was kind enough to talk to me for a few minutes last week. We discussed her influences, new projects and just hjow she’s able to keep herself in great shape.

AUSTIN: So, why don’t you tell me a bit about your website before we start? What exactly do you guys do?

David A. Barrios for AV: Our website tends to focus on many things in pop culture: Music, movies, video games, etc. We do reviews of movies, DVD and albums mostly and of course, we do interviews. So, let’s begin.

AUSTIN: Alright. Great.

DAB for AV: When was it that you decided to really go into the whole fitness and exercise field? How did you decide that you wanted to do that with yourself?

AUSTIN: Oh, well, I started years ago and when I was a teenager, growing up, I did gymnastics and competed international and got a full athletics scholarship to the University of Arizona for gymnastics. So, my beginning happened to be very sports related anyhow. And after I graduated and got my degree in Physical education and exercise physiology, I taught aerobics just when it was starting in 1981 in Los Angeles. So, it was kind of in me, through years of gymnastics training so that I could go to the next level and crate my own fitness routine and choreography is and beginning teaching everyone exercise. Then I met Jack Lalane, who was a pioneer in the exercise world.

DAB for AV: Of course. And well loved.

AUSTIN: Yes, sir. He’s 94 right now and in beautiful shape. And I got my first start on television because of him in 1981. Si I had my start in television long ago and I’ve kept it up ever since.

DAB for AV: How was he able to do that?

AUSTIN: Well, first of all, he had a television show in Los Angeles at the time, the year was 1981, that aired nationally. So, I was invited to a Presidential Council dinner because I was an athlete and I saw him from a distance, ran up to him and kind of made the most of the moment. And so I said, “Oh my gosh, I would love to be on your TV show. You’re my idol. My mom exercises with you. Etc”. And he said, “Sure,” while I went on saying, “I can rival with you doing push-ups and handstand pushups. Whatever. I just want to be a guess on your show. And he said, “Ok”. I called him when we got back to Los Angeles and he put me on the show with his wife, and I continued as their co-host for quite a while. And now I’ve had a television show for twenty three years.

DAB for AV: That show being, “Get fit with Denise Austin”, no?

AUSTIN: Yes, though I’m on hiatus from the show and focusing on my DVD line. Actually, I have two that are coming out next week, (December 16^th, 2008). I’m really excited about them.

DAB for AV: Well, let’s talk about those. What makes these so special?

AUSTIN: Well, these are my 84^th and 85^th fitness DVD/videos that I’ve done in the last twenty two years.

DAB for AV: What does the first DVD go into?

AUSTIN: The first one is called, “Denise’s Daily Dozen,” and I’m really excited about it. It’s twelve minutes of exercise that you do every day. There’s a different focus everyday. And it’s kind of the minimum daily requirement. These are the exercises that I personally do everyday, also, just to keep fit and keep my body in shape.

DAB for AV: And the other DVD?

AUSTIN: That one is, “The Denise Austin Total Body Burn,” and that is two work outs in one. One of them is a dance workout video program to burn fat. The second one is a straight palates work out to flatten the tummy and get a nice tushie.

DAB for AV: My next question; I’ve heard you say that you only need to exercise for only thirty minutes a day. I’m quite surprised. How do you do this?

AUSTIN: Well, I really believe in eating health. 80 percent of the food that I eat is very healthy while 20 percent are just treats. Also, I don’t overeat but I make sure I have three daily meals. And I’ve stayed the same weight since I was married. To stay fit, I believe that if you exercise on at least thirty minutes on a strict regimen.

I’d like to thank Ms. Austin again for taking time to speak with us. I wish her the best with her two newest releases that came out earlier this week. I’ll be back tomorrow or on Monday with another interview.

So long, folks.

Hello, hello, hello, sports fans!

This is David A. Barrios again, with AndersonVision. Last week, I was able to speak to Hector Echavaria, world renowned martial artist, kickboxer, actor and now, director. Hector and I spoke about his career, life experiences, the move from kick boxing into acting, his directorial experiences and his style of direction.

D.B for AV: “What made you want to go into the martial arts? What event or influence brought you into it?”

HE: Well, I started the martial arts when I was four. I used be to very sick with asthma and of course, we tried every medicine. And the doctors then told me that I had to start exercising. We went to a specialist to look into acupuncture and he told us that he had a new exercise that had just gotten popular at that time that could help. Well, that was kung-fu. Martial arts kind of saved my life.

DB for AV: “So you started with kung-fu. What form of the martial arts do you practice now?”

HE: Yes, I started off with kung fu at the beginning but then I went into every other area. I was training eight to ten hours a day. Right now, I practice a mixed version using bit of everything that works for me.

DB for AV: “What would you call the turning point in your martial arts career?”

HE: I think that when I won my first kickboxing world championship, I think that that was huge. One of the big moments for me was just training Quentin [Jackson] for his huge fight. I don’t have a favorite one.

DB for AV: “What makes you want to do the transition into films?”

HE: I did a lot of TV while I was in Argentina [Echavaria’s home country] and I had my own comic books and action figures. I was very popular with my success. Then I saw a few years ago how well the Latino Market was doing in the United States and I just decided that I’d take a chance here.

DB for AV: I see you’re working on three films now.

HE: That’s right. [The films are: Duel of Legends, Never Surrender & Death Warrior]. We just finished filming the first movie, “Never Surrender” a week ago. Then I’m off to Canada at the 20^th of November to shoot “Death Warrior”. And then we’ll finish “Duel of Legends”. We’re aiming for a more gritty and bloody and real view in the action and the cast is filled with great martial artists like Quentin, etc,

DB for AV: I was actually going to ask about that; what is your opinion about action and martial arts and the way that they are represented in the movies? Is it done properly?

HE: I think that there’s a tremendous opportunity to bring to the screen some real martial arts. I think we can go back to the old, bloody, real movies that everyone loves. Not like this new cartoonish-flying around the room whatsoever for no purpose what so ever.

DB for AV: You mean the whole Hong Kong, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” stuff?

HE: Yes. I think it was fine for one or two movies and then they over did it to the point that now it’s become ridiculous. It’s time to move back to the old, bloody style…

DB for AV: A gritty realism?

HE: Exactly. Of course, to move that way, it doesn’t mean that the choreography has to be boring. For example, my film, “Never Surrender,” I just can’t wait for audiences to see the choreography. Really incredible yet it still is real and tough and spectacular.

Of course, I’d like to thank Hector for taking the time to talk to us. I wish him the best.

This is David from Andersonvision signing off. Ba ba booey.

Hello there, sports fans! This is David A. Barrios again with AndersonVision, just tossing the good word to all of you about the new series horror series released by Lionsgate; Ghost House Underground. Released in conjunction with film producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, the films in this anthology are produced from around the world and are all brought together in this set to create a new look at horror in the new age.

Mr. Tapert was kind enough to sit down with us for just a few minutes to discuss the project, his and Sam’s involvement and his own personal opinions about the studio system among other things.

I began by asking, “Why Lionsgate? Why work with them to release these films?”

Tapert responded by saying, “Well, it’s true that we’ve had relationships with other studios. Last year, we were working with Sony on one of our films, and we may very well go back to them if the situation calls for it. But I’ve got to tell you; this is the perfect type of project for Lionsgate. They’re not a big studio in terms of films and production or a huge release catalogue, but the people that they have working with them know how to market the product to the people that we want to pick this up. They are huge, and they knew just what to do with this horror eight pack.”

“Why these films though,” I went on to ask.

“You’ve got to understand that every year, thousands of films come to Hollywood from many independent film makers from around the world. Some of them are not so good, others are worth a shot at watching. It’s sad really. And many of these film directors loose money in their investments and have their film just die. So we sifted through a ton of these independent horror films and we just picked eight that seemed to be the best and representative of what horror is today.”

            “That’s not a bad idea,” I said.

            “Of course it isn’t. We pick up the best films, me and Sam and then we help the filmmakers out so that they can pay off their debts with the distribution deal, etc. etc. And of course, we see fresh and inventive movie making for horror fans. And I know that we’re in the process of working with some of the young filmmakers to develop and produce or distribute their future products”.

            “Do you have any favorite films in the batch along with Sam,” I asked.

            “Well, they’re all a batch of favorite films I’m afraid. That’s the concept of the set. But, there’s one film from Europe, I believe called “The Substitute,” that is just magnificent. See, we tried to get a bunch of movies that were representative of different areas in horror. Some of the films are slasher movies, others are more based on suspense, and this film, “The Substitute,” is our horror comedy. Sam and I saw it and we were just laughing our heads off. It’s just insanely funny and with a great cast and premise. That’s one of the films in the set that really stands out for me. But, I recommend you just pick up the set.”

            Which is what I’m recommending to all of the horror fans who frequent this site to do.

The DVDs included in the “Ghost House Underground “ are “Dance of the Dead”, “No Man’s Land: The Rise of the Reeker”, “The Substitute”, “Dark Floors”, “Trackman”, “Room 205”, “Last House in the Woods” and “Brotherhood of Blood”.

It’s a great set. I own it. You’ll have fun. Trust me.

In honor of the 50^th anniversary of the release of the beloved Disney classic, “Sleeping Beauty”, and for the magnificent new blu-ray & dvd release of the film this Tuesday, October 7^th, Disney held several virtual conferences tied with the release; seminars attended by Burny Mattinson, assistant animator to Marc Davis, one of the legendary “Nine Old Men”. Mattinson’s history with Disney is long and storied.

Presented here are transcripts from the conference.

Michael Stailey: How much of Maleficent’s onscreen personality comes from Eleanor Audley’s rich performance and how much is classic Marc Davis?

Burny Mattinson: I’d say 60% of it was Eleanor’s and Marc followed up with the rest of it!  He was highly influenced by her – she set the tone for how the character should act.

Fiona Wright: What design features make Maleficient a great villain?

Burny Mattinson: The head-dress certainly made a strong statement…her being tall and overpowering the frame and her bombastic acting where she kept everything controlled and would explode suddenly – that created a strong character.

Alon Rosenblum: when you create a character there are a lot of designs, can you tell us about the “elimination” process, how do you get to the pick the final design, who has “the last word” etc…..?

Burny Mattinson: In this case, Walt had the last word on the design and as it passes between different designers and Marc Davis, it afforded them a chance to take a little bit of everybody’s design and mix it together, but Walt made the last decision on each character – and on every aspect of the picture.  He wouldn’t let everything go unless he saw it and that’s why it took so long to make this picture as he wanted to pass on everything, since at the time he was so involved with Disneyland.

Brian Gallagher: When you were working on this film, did you have any sort of idea that it would be as timeless and remain so popular 50 years later?

Burny Mattinson: No!  We were pleasantly surprised when everybody saw the final print and I think we all felt we made something classic.  But at the time, we didn’t realize that this would become such a beloved classic – we were too close to the working problems of it…just getting the work done, but then, when it was all together and we saw it for the first time, we realized we had something!

David Barrios: What made Maleficient so different from villains previously made by Disney?

Burny Mattinson: One thing that got me was the fact that her reaction at not being invited to the party was a bit over the top – which is pretty darn cruel for no reason…

Henrique Sampaio: Malificent is one of the most famous villains in the animation history. She became even more notorious with the successful game “Kingdom Hearts”. What do you think it made her so famous?

Burny Mattinson: She was in such a classic picture that she stood out probably more strongly than other characters.  Her thinking process is very quiet and cunning and you’re anticipating the next moment and then suddenly she blows…she comes on so sweetly and then suddenly you have this evilness bursting out of her – it resulted in such a strong, memorable character.  For me it was a joy working with Marc – he made everything so fun and easy – he was such a strong designer.  I learned so much from him.  Everything was so well worked out with Marc.  He was such a calm fellow and really knew his craft and it was easily conveyed in his work.  So no wonder she was such a memorable character.

Reg Seeton: What is your favorite Disney animation that you didn’t work on?

Burny Mattinson: Pinocchio – I wasn’t able to work on it since I was just a little kid, but it had the biggest impact on me because it’s why I wanted to work here at Disney.

Natalia Soares: You’ve worked in many unforgettable movies. Which one is your favorite?

Burny Mattinson: I have a very strong feeling for THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, beyond that BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was one of my favorites to work on.  LADY AND THE TRAMP was my first film with the studio, and, of course, SLEEPING BEAUTY has a very soft spot in my heart.

Alon Rosenblum: why did you decide to film SLEEPING BEAUTY on 70mm?

Burny Mattinson: Cinemascope was the new wave at the time and we had just done LADY AND THE TRAMP which was originally to be done in standard 35mm frame.  Walt said ‘let’s capitalize on Cinemascope’ and we added the wider aspect into the designs.  So, when it came to SLEEPING BEAUTY he wanted to make it bigger and better and said ‘let’s go with 70mm’ because he was trying to make a true classic.  In fact he asked that we design this design as a moving tapestry.

Alejandra Alvarez: How was working with one of the legendary nine old men of animation?

Burny Mattinson: It was wonderful!  Marc was an absolute gentleman with total confidence in what he did.  He took an interest in a very naive, young aspiring artists (me).  He took me under his wing and taught me practically everything I know in animation.  In fact, he looked at my work early on and he said I should go down to Chaunard’s Art School and he’d let me sit in his classes.  He taught me how to draw the human figure.

Michael Stailey: How many animated features did Walt have in development at any given time? Were there any that didn’t get made you would have loved to be a part of?

Burny Mattinson: About 1940, Walt was starting to do four features at one time (Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia and Dumbo) and they were all in work status.  At the same time he had stories that were in development like Cinderella and Peter Pan in which development hit a wall so they were put on the shelf and revisited later.   Walt was disappointed in Pinocchio and Fantasia not doing as well as they should because of the overseas market disappearing during World War II, that he was going to go on a long vacation.  Someone sent a little series of pictures of an elephant character and he gave it to Joe Grant and said ‘See what you can do with it.’  So, Joe and Dick Humor developed the story of Dumbo while Walt was away which was done very fast because it was so simple and it was very successful.

Reg Seeton: How has animation at Disney changed since you first worked on Sleeping Beauty?

Burny Mattinson: When we first worked on SLEEPING BEAUTY we were trying to do a more classic approach to our animation. We were trying to be more exacting in the design aspects – that was strongly influenced.  We were trying to learn our ‘straights’ against ‘curves’ to fit within Eyvind Earle’s stylized backgrounds.  This was a slow process.  Later on we went to a looser approach on 101 DALAMTAINS, where we could speed up the process but we were also trying to get back into the classic style of animation.  Even today, we still try to keep a classic approach – perhaps not as designed as on SLEEPING BEAUTY, but we still try to keep a classic approach to our contemporary titles.

Edward Liu: What’s the one thing you think nobody notices in Sleeping Beauty that they should pay attention to?

Burny Mattinson: Watch the beautiful backgrounds – the animation is so well done, especially the fairies when they’re little miniature fairies.  The restored aspect ratio now includes so much more imagery that has never been seen before and the forest sequences are fantastic in Blu-ray.