***Disclosure: I solely received travel accommodations and the opportunity to attend this event from Disney. All opinions are my own.***
Hey All!
On my recent trip to Disney Toon Studios, I not only got a tour of the magical facility but I also got to chat with some of the amazing filmmakers and producers of the movie PLANES.
I chatted with Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn. It was amazing to hear about their dedication to make the film and inspiration that bough this film to life.
Here is what they had to say:
What brought you onto the project, originally?
Great question. The origin, how it all began. First of all, it was about four and half years ago, we’ve worked on this for four and a half years. We’re just gonna finish up here, I think in three more weeks. I had just finished my previous movie with John Lasseter and I was in that phase of what are we gonna do next? We had become pretty good friends. We found out that we a had a common passion about all things sort of mechanical. Uh, trains was a big one, planes, cars, all that kind of stuff, you know. So I was kicking around ideas and originally I started thinking about a steam engine, really sort of a transcontinental railroad story. But it wasn’t anywhere from the world of cars. It was actually going to deal with humans and animals and all that kinds of stuff. I was gonna tell this story of the railroad. It was really coming along and it was shaping up so to speak, as far as stories go, but then out of the blue one day, he was flying down in the jet from Pixar to Disney Studios, and he had an epiphany on the way down. He landed and he literally called me up, and he’s like, Klay, I know you’re working on the trains thing, and that’s cool and all that, but what do you think about doing one about Planes and making it from the world of cars? True story.
Do you think you will take the locomotive train movie further after you’re done with all of this?
I hope to.
Will it be your next film?
I’m not sure if it’ll be exactly the next one, but I definitely want to explore trains. I would love to tell the story sometime. I love steam trains.
Will it be in the same world?
I think so.
Are you guys part of Planes 2, as well?
No, you know, the way it works. I’m part of what they call the story trust. They trust the directors and we all weigh in on it and get feedback on it and I’m pulled in a little bit more on it because it’s coming off the heels of this one. So a lot of experiences that we’ve learned and things that I’ve learned, I can help inform those guys with heads up kinda stuff, so I’m involved just that way.
They were kind enough at the end of the interview to take a group shot with us. What a fun interesting interview!
For more information on Planes please visit the PLANES Facebook page.
Disney PLANES is out on Blu-ray November 19th!
Photos Courtesy of Disney Pictures and Momstart.com
Welcome!
Comments
Planes was totally adorable. We love it.
You look great and the entire experience seems like a blast! My husband and son enjoyed Planes together, so I can not wait to watch it as a family soon!
It’s fun to see that they could possibly go with trains next. Always cool to see ideas from producers and people behind the scenes.
I loved meeting both of them both and hearing about Planes in June! So fun to hear behind the scenes stuff!
I loved hearing the inside scoop on how Planes came about.
I still haven’t seen this but I’m looking forward to it! Looks like you had an awesome experience!
This is something my daughter would have totally loved, she’s accepted to the Arts & Technology program at UTD next year and graduates with degrees like the one she will get end up working on movies like Planes!