Interview conducted by e-mail in August 2020 by Miguel Ángel Ferreiro, who also added some annotations in brackets [ ]
Question: Your first animated feature as a director (with EBERHARD JUNKERSDORF and JÜRGEN RICHTER) was "DIE FURCHTLOSEN VIER/THE FEARLESS FOUR" (1997) with SIMONE KRAUS as one of the animators. In 1998, you and MS. KRAUS founded TRIXTER. Soon thereafter, you started work on "HEAVY METAL 2000". Would you care to tell us how did you and SIMONE KRAUS decided to team-up and create TRIXTER? Did the success of "DIE FURCHTLOSEN VIER" enabled you financially to establish yourselves on your own?
Answer: Simone Kraus Townsend and I have been working together since 1995, I hired her as CG Character Animator for the team at Munich Animation Film GmbH, Eberhard Junkersdorf's company. At the end of 1997 the CG work for Junkersdorf's upcoming movie didn't look like great CG work, so we decided to start our own business: TRIXTER was born January 1998! Financially it wasn't the movie "The Fearless Four" that gave us the financial start. I always produced commercials at the time since 1990. Among others, Ferrero (the Italian chocolate manufacturer) was one of our biggest clients. Mostly we did "Kinderüberraschung" - these chocolate eggs with toys inside.
I got in contact with the "Heavy Metal" gang, because a friend of mine knew the German co-producer who searched for an experienced animation Producer/Director in Germany. At the end, it became a US/Canadian/German co-production, with TRIXTER as the German animation studio, focused entirely on all aspects of CG.
KEVIN EASTMAN, publisher of HEAVY METAL Magazine, has always stated that it was he who set this project in motion, but neither has he any producing credit, nor is HEAVY METAL COMMUNICATIONS credited as one of the many companies involved in the production. Bearing in mind that this was mainly a Canadian production, I suppose that the first company involved in the project was CINÉ-GROUPE, ran by JACQUES PETTIGREW, and TRIXTER was later approached by CINÉ-GROUPE to join them in this enterprise. What are your recollections of how the project got started?
Behind the financing of such an adventure (animation for an adult audience!) it had to follow the subsidy regulation at the time. That included the credits as well.
Originally it was Kevin Eastman, who always wanted to produce a "Heavy Metal" movie. Not a sequel of the first one from 1981, but under the same brand and within the Heavy Metal magazine worlds. He contacted Ciné-Groupe first, because most of the key artists of the first "Heavy Metal" movie were living in Montréal, Canada. Closing the financing was only possible through the German co-production.
Do you remember the date when TRIXTER started to work in the film?
Hard to tell the exact date, as it started with a lot of talks, then design and storyboards. But it was October 1997 I started working for "Heavy Metal". First as a Co-Director, later on, after the first Director was fired, I became the Director of the movie (and started all over again with it...)
Do you know how the other companies became involved in the production? Aside from CINÉ-GROUPE and TRIXTER, there's COLUMBIA PICTURES (who released the 1981 movie), LION'S GATE, SCENERIES ENTERTAINMENT (United States), and two German companies: DAS WERK and HELKON MEDIA.
Columbia Pictures was the US Co-Producer and got the releasing rights for the US; Lion's Gate was the Canadian releasing company; Sceneries Entertainment was the World Sales Agent and Co-Producer (doing the pre-sales); Das Werk GmbH together with TRIXTER, the German production facility; and Helkon Media, with Werner König, the German Co-Production.
When TRIXTER joined the project, how finished was the development process? What kind of input did TRIXTER have in the design and look of the film? You only had 3 people credited in this aspect of the film: CHRISTOPH HARRINGER as character designer and storyboard artist, and PETER OEDE KOVEN, and PETER POPKEN as storyboard artists.
TRIXTER became involved, because our crew, supervised by Simone, was already pretty advanced in Computer Animation. We just finished "The Fearless Four" with the biggest amount of CG work at the time in a theatrical feature film, including a computer animated character (Simone was the lead on that too). The "Heavy Metal" movie existed just as a script. I started with principle Character Design and Storyboards. Later on, when the production was finally financed, Ciné-Groupe animation studio came on board and we worked together. TRIXTER with me as the Director did 100% of all CG elements from first sketches, concept art till final image. The first round of character design was done by a team I hired at TRIXTER: Peter Popken, Christoph Harringer and Peter Oedekoven. Later on for the 2D production at Ciné-Groupe they finished the design for the 2D workflow and added all the other secondary characters as well as the location and props with a way larger team.
What do you know about the developing of the script? As far as I know, KEVIN EASTMAN wrote the plot, based on his comic-book mini-series "MELTING POT", but he is not credited on-screen. CARL MACEK collaborated in the first drafts and is credited as "executive consultant". The official credits list ROBERT PAYNE CABEEN as sole writer, and ROBERT GEOFFRION, JON MINNIS, LORENZO ORZARI, and GEORGE UNGAR as "additional writing".
The script development was a long process, starting with Kevin Eastman and his ideas and visions. The main writer was then Robert Payne Cabeen with help from Robert Geoffrion. George Ungar was the first Director who got fired after just a few months but saved his writer's credit. Jon Minnis was a co-writer. With him I developed special sequences and he helped with dialog and voice recording. The very first scripts were written, as I remember it, around 1994/95.
Kevin Eastman met and married Julie Strain. She was the Penthouse model of the year twice [Pet of the Month in June 1991 and Pet of the Year in 1993] and a model for a lot of Heavy Metal comic artists. So she was also the model for the main actress in our movie and the original voice.
It seems that the bulk of the animation was made by CINÉ-GROUPE and TRIXTER, with additional help from other companies like IMAGINE ASIA STUDIO (Philippines), SUNMIN ANIMATION STUDIO (South Korea), RG PRINCE FILMS (South Korea), THAI WANG FILMS (Bangkok). The film was directed by yourself in Munich, and by MICHEL LEMIRE, who was on staff at CINÉ-GROUPE in Montreal. How was the animation workload split up between TRIXTER and CINÉ-GROUPE?
I was the Director. Michel Lemire was the Canadian Producer first. Columbia Tri-Star wanted in addition to me a native English speaking Director as well for safety reasons. So I spent most of the time in Montréal, especially in the editing room at Ciné-Groupe. The work was clearly divided: all the 2D animation handled and organised by Ciné-Groupe, which subcontracted the other animation studios like Imagine Asia Studio, Sunmin Animation Studio, RG Prince Films and Thai Wang Films for the traditional cel-animation. TRIXTER did 100% of all the Computer Animation, title sequence and a lot of Design and Storyboards. Amazing, how small our team was and we delivered such a large amount of work! Working with the 3D software Softimage on Silicon Graphics machines at the time...
As far as I can tell, CGI was used to animate the following elements: planets, starfields, spaceships, vehicles, machines, explosions, smoke, and just one of the main characters: the final revelation of ODIN as an Arakacian creature. Traditional cel animation was used for all of the characters, plus landscapes, and some effects (like water and lava). I have some doubts with the urban backgrounds -- some of them seem to be CGI and others "hand-drawn". Who decided what kind of animation was better for any given element?
As the Director I was the one who decided what technique was taken. But I couldn't do this totally independent, because I had to follow our possibilities and budget restrictions. You need to remember, it was 1997-1999! With such little money, there was no chance to do more in CG. Only the space, the space vessels, and the spacehawk battle.
I am always trying to build a world that is believable within it. With its own rules and physics. I didn't want to mix hand painted backgrounds with computer generated ones. Also once the decision was made for cel animated characters, they never appear in CG. Nowadays we can create all this differently. We can mix it. Best example is Sony's recent released "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse".
(As for the revelation of Odin as an Arakacian creature) I got in a big fight with Ciné-Groupe at that time, because I was totally against the Odin CG creature, because it didn't match with the other characters. But Michel Lemire insisted on having the CG guys at Ciné-Groupe doing a CG creature. I never liked it. Why? Because exactly with this type of element, you can see how outdated the technique is. Today's CG creatures are so way more advanced. Cel animation haven't changed for 50 years...
Once the animation was completed, what was your (and TRIXTER's) level of involvement in the post-production stage (music, editing and sound)?
TRIXTER just did the CG work. Being the Director, you must be involved in post-production, score music, soundtrack (Billy Idol) and of course all the editing, which is the most part of a Director's input.
I remember, I had to fight hard to get a real score soundtrack with traditional music recording. We did this with the famous Bavarian score musicians [The Munich Symphony Orchestra], who for example did scores for Indiana Jones and others. Frédéric Talgorn was the composer and conducted 95 musicians. For me: the score music is like an emotional glue, that is binding all and every element together. Just listen to "Tyler's rage"! [Which is one of the tracks in Talgorn's score.]
But: Directing a "Heavy Metal" movie, you must involve also a great rock soundtrack. I was happy working with a great team to find the music that fit. Funny anecdote: The temp track for the editing of the storyboard was exactly the playlist that later on, after we finished, "Matrix" [1999] used for their first movie.
Were you happy with how the final film turned out? Are there some elements that you would have done differently but were unable to fine-tune, due to schedule problems or budgetary constraints?
Oh. A lot of things didn't go well or as I wished! The entire traditional cel animation wasn't produced in the quality level I had in mind. It was even low TV standard. But at the end, you have to answer the question: either you'll never do a movie, or you do one with some compromises you have to swallow. Just play the sound loud and have a beer, and the animation works...
How successful was the movie for TRIXTER, in terms of establishing your brand in the international market? As far as I know, your next animation project (as co-producer) was the TV series "HEXE LILLI/LILLY THE WITCH", aired in 2004 and 2007 (with a third season in 2014). You also co-produced two live-action features with the same character: "HEXE LILLI: DER DRACHE UND DAS MAGISCHE BUCH" (2009) and "HEXE LILLI: DIE REISE NACH MANDOLAN" (2011).
"Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2" wasn't any help for TRIXTER, because there was no place for animation in Germany's film business. I mean no serious and professional making of animation movies. German audiences and the buyers see animation only for the audiences of young kids. "Heavy Metal" is for young adults. With TRIXTER I continued what I did before: commercials and service work for features. With 2003 and the service work for the TV movie "The Canterville Ghost" ["Das Gespenst von Canterville", directed by Isabel Kleefeld and aired in 2005], Simone and I entered the VFX world. Now for me, with this year leaving TRIXTER studios, I produced the TRIXTER VFX work on 15 Marvel blockbusters and on endless other US and German motion pictures and TV series.
Most of your animation work is "family-friendly". Your only action/science fiction/"adult" movie is "HEAVY METAL". Do you like it better to work for an "all-ages" market?
Personally I like to write and develop feature films and TV series. Live action and animation. Not for specific age groups. But when it comes down to financing, you always have to answer for what age it is developed. I hate such questions.
Together with Kevin Eastman I was two times involved in getting the next "Heavy Metal" animated feature up and running, but we had to give up. It is basically way too difficult to finance animation that is not suitable for the young audience. Unless your name is David Fincher, who can do whatever he wants on Netflix, because he helped Netflix with "House of cards" for their crazy success. He is producing the second season of "Love, death and robots". A concept he has taken from the development of a "Heavy Metal" movie years ago [in 2008 - 09, there was an anthology movie project, produced by Kevin Eastman and David Fincher, to be directed by Fincher, Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski, Mark Osborne and others, and animated by Blur Studio.]
I am developing an adult TV series, but it will be live action. I am also developing an animated TV series for 5-12-year-old ones, based on a children's book series. You see. All ages...
Your latest animated project was the feature "CHASSEURS DE DRAGONS/DRAGON HUNTERS" (2008) with FUTURIKON (France). Why did you ceased to make animation films? Did the visual effects assignments prove to be more economically rewarding for TRIXTER?
As co-producer I was involved in several other animated features after "Dragon hunters". But it is simple as it is bitter: Germany is NOT the country for serious family entertainment animation. You can do pre-school animation, yes. But I can't do that. As service work VFX became so successful, that Simone and I decided to follow that route with the TRIXTER service studio. And the success of TRIXTER proves that we were right. Simone is working at this moment on the new Marvel feature "Shang Chi".
Does TRIXTER own any percentage of the copyright of the film? If so, do you have any information about a possible release of the film in Blu-ray?
TRIXTER was just a service providing studio. Only production companies are sharing rights and revenues. I don't know about plans for a Blu-ray.
What's the current status of TRIXTER as a company?
Simone and I founded TRIXTER, the animation and VFX studio in January 1998. With that service company, Simone and I produced many VFX work for Marvel, Warner, Disney, Sony and so on. That company we sold to Cinesite Studios (London) in 2018.
In 2000, Simone and I founded ALSO a second company: TRIXTER Productions. With that entity we were able to co-produce as well. And that company we kept and renamed it last year into COLD'N'TOWN, and are still able to co-produce animation projects.
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