Nick Park loves "creating new characters".
Nick Park
The 59-year-old filmmaker and animator helmed the latest Aardman Studios movie 'Early Man' and the film featured brand new characters, but Park admitted it's hard "setting up a brand new universe".
In an interview with Den of Geek, Park said: "This is the big thing about it. The bit I particularly enjoy, and find a challenge at the same time, is new characters. And creating new characters. For a new story, it's quite hard setting up a brand new universe with a new set of characters. Who are they? How do they interact? What are their problems? Where have they come from? I don't think I have answers to all of those questions yet!"
The new Aardman movie follows Dug - voiced by Eddie Redmayne - and his sidekick Hognob who must unite their tribe against a mighty enemy, the Bronze Age.
The film marks the first time Park has directed a movie for more than a decade since the release of 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit', and he loved doing it but admitted it was "quite full on".
He said: "I did feel at the helm. And that's why I wanted to direct it on my own really. I wanted to be at the reins more, and I wanted to try that out. You have to restructure to do that. In a way, when there were two of us directing, I had more time on the floor with the animators. Now I had two deputies, animation directors on the floor. I was in story meetings, editing, recording actors, briefing, all sorts. I was briefing directors of animation more than animators, although I did a lot of acting stuff out on video. To put across what I was after, the timing, the size of the gag of whatever. That was all very important to somehow convey what I was after. Even though I was at the top of this pyramid, I still feel hands on, and that creates quite a rod for my back really. I like to design the characters and be very hands on with that. Even though we have a great team of people who make them nicer, and ready for mould-making.
"But you make that rod for your back if you want that involvement, because everyone's waiting on you. It's feeding the machine! Quite full on."
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