By Iain Blair
Will Gluck, who directed the 2018 hit Peter Rabbit, has returned to tell the story of Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, also based on the classic characters created by Beatrix Potter and also featuring a combination of live-action and animation. In this new adventure, Bea (Rose Byrne), Thomas (Domhnall Gleeson), and the rabbits have created a makeshift family, but Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous reputation. This adventure takes us out of the garden and into a larger world.
L-R: Domhnall Gleeson, director Will Gluck and DP Peter Menzies Jr. on set
Gluck, who also co-wrote The Runaway, reteamed with many of the first film’s creative crew, including visual effects supervisor Will Reichelt, animation director Simon Pickard, VFX producer Zareh Nalbandian (CEO of Animal Logic, who created all the animation and VFX) and DP Peter Menzies Jr., ASC.
I talked to Gluck, whose credits also include Friends With Benefits and Easy A, about his unusual approach to making this movie, as well as the film’s VFX and animation.
On a film so full of VFX and animation, I assume you did a ton of storyboards?
(Laughs) Well, not as much as we should have! Unfortunately, my movie-making style isn’t really conducive to the way VFX and animation work, but they understand it more now and roll with it. Yes, it should all be storyboarded and set, but I really don’t figure it all out until the middle of the process, and I have new ideas all the time, much to the chagrin of my VFX and animation teams.
The last time I talked about my process, all the comments came from VFX people and editors, saying stuff like, “How dare he! He should be fired! He should have it all planned out beforehand. He’s just a torturer!” They may be right, but it’s the only way I know how to do it and, luckily, everyone was prepared for it the second time around.
Normally I’d ask, “How much previz did you do?” But it doesn’t sound like you did much traditional stuff at all.
No, we hardly did any previz. On the first one we did a ton, and then used absolutely zero of it. I’m not sure we even did any on this. I know, it’s shocking to everyone!
Can you talk about working with VFX supervisor Will Reichelt and Animal Logic on the scope of the VFX, animation?
Will and Simon Pickard were both on the first movie, and they’re geniuses who work hand in hand. Will was at my side on set every step of the way, and then through post, and Simon was also on set, which was so important, as they helped guide the shooting and made sure we got the live-action plates needed to integrate all the animation in post. Then, once we got into post and all the animation, the core team consisted of editor Matt Villa, Will, Simon and head of story and second unit director Kelly Baigent.
It was Kelly’s idea to do a lot of storyboards and postviz on this. We’d use footage we’d shot with the actors and then put the storyboard cartoons over that to give us a sense of what the movie was like, and I could try new things. So there were so many storyboards created for this after it’d been shot — in fact, Kelly said it was the most storyboards she ever made.
In terms of all the VFX and animation, it was a huge challenge, as we had close to 2,000 VFX shots. What happened was that Animal Logic did all the animation, but there were so many VFX shots that we had to farm out some to several other companies, including Method and Rising Sun. For instance, the whole animated rooster sequence was designed in-house by Animal Logic, and then Rising Sun took over, and the other companies did a lot of VFX stuff like sky replacement and so on. Pretty much every shot was a VFX shot in the end. It was an insane amount of VFX. [Clear Angle and Wysiwyg 3D did the Lidar and photogrammetry cyberscanning.]
How hard was it creating the big wedding brawl daydream at the start?
Very. It was so complicated because we had actors and live action interacting with animated characters, so there was a lot of planning, and it took five days to shoot because of all the stunt work. If you study the wide shots, we had 50 animals interacting with people. But the most complicated scene was the farmer’s market heist, which took five weeks to shoot, and we did as much as possible in-camera. It was this huge, complex dance that we choreographed in post.
What about the scene where Peter falls into the wet cement and teeters around? How difficult was that sequence?
It’s a perfect example of my post process and how long it took. We must have completely animated that whole sequence four times before I was happy, and I kept having new ideas. I know that’s terrible for a director to do that, but the animation guys are so good now with their rigs, technology and R&D — and they’re so fast too. That’s such a gift to someone like me, who’s always saying, “What if we tried this?” They won’t color it and so on, but they’ll do it enough for me to see if it works.
The animation leads were also a vital part of the team.
Exactly. They’re the stars of this movie, and I worked so closely with all six leads and their teams. That sequence wasn’t done until very late in post. I’d be constantly begging them to “do a little more” all the time, and they were all so game.
Tell us about post. Where did you do it?
All the editing and VFX were done in Sydney, along with some of the sound work. I was down there for a bit, and then I came back here to LA and did the rest remotely on the computer in my office. We got it all done before COVID even hit, but then the release got delayed.
Doing it remotely was great because I could control the Avid and talk to the editor daily and look at all the animation and VFX reviews. My monitor was timed exactly the same as the one in Sydney, so it was all in real time, just like being there.
The editor is always crucial in these kinds of films. How did you and Matt Villa work together? What were the main editing challenges?
Yes, crucial, and he was another real leader. He had to deal with all the constant changes I’d make and then all the departments, so he’s basically a producer as well as an amazing editor. I worked remotely with the editor on the first movie, and it was fine. This time I had another monitor looking at Matt’s face, so I could see him instead of the usual back of the editor’s head. It was even better in terms of the animation, as often you have to act it out for them, and they could just record it.
Where did you mix?
On the Sony lot here in LA, and we did the DI at Animal Logic, so post was very spread out. But the technology’s so good now that I’d be happy to keep working remotely on future projects. We were all set up like that even before COVID, so the pandemic didn’t faze us at all. And the beauty of it is, this is such a big post movie, yet no kid or adult ever realizes it when they watch it.
Finally, successful sequels to big hits are notoriously tricky to pull off.
You’re right — they’re very tricky, and we didn’t want to just do more of the same. I wanted a slightly different tone and to have the characters age about two years because when you’re young, the things you go through at 12 and 14 are very different from the problems you’re dealing with when you’re 15 and 16. So I wanted it to feel like they’re in a very different place in their lives.
Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.
