"My favorite scene in Toy 3 was the one with the baby sitting on the swing staring up at the moon," actor Jeff Garlin guffawed loudly to the attentive audience - who subsequently - roared back in approval.
"You had to wonder what the baby was thinking! Unbelievable. Anyone who was going to include a shot like that in their movie was someone I wanted to work with," he blurted out, somewhat incredulously.
After noting that the actor was a bit "wonky", John Horn - an LA TIMES writer (acting as a monitor for the LA TIMES "Envelope" event) - proceeded to usher in questions about the creative process at Pixar studios - and the difficulties (if any) - in delivering up the third segment of the highly-touted successful franchise series.
"When confronted with the task, did film titles like - Godfather 3, Matrix 3, and Spiderman 3 - cross your mind," Horn comically quizzed the director - Lee Unkrich - in so many words.
"Yes, if I screwed up, I thought I might be run out-of-town with pitch forks. It was sort-of fear-based filmmaking," he chuckled in jest.
An anticipated release date (June / 2010) was announced - and that didn't help matters much either - the articulate director confessed to the rapt audience - who sat dazzled on-the-edge of their seats at the annual screening event (which acts as a precursor to the Oscar nods) .
"We put the pressures aside as much as possible, but the problem was always omnipresent."
The first review was tepid, and threw him for a loop, according to the lone actor on the panel at the insightful Q & A session at the Landmark Theatre in West Los Angeles after the screen credits crawled to a close.
In fact, Garlin chided the young auteur for reading the critique.
"The film was out. There was nothing you could do about it. Why bother?"
Shortly after TOY 2 was released, the original idea for the sequel was hatched up, but Unkrich was keen on taking a vacation first.
Then, the project got stalled because of contractual snafus with Disney and Pixar.
So, TOY STORY 3 languished on the back burner for a few years, until Disney purchased Pixar - and the block on a green light for production - was finally lifted.
Once the project was underway, the main creative forces behind TOY STORY 3 - the director (Lee Unkrich), the scriptwriter (Michael Arndt ) and the producer (Darla Anderson) - trotted off to Northern California to a retreat known as the Poet's Loft to hammer out the skeletal frame for the proposed script for the full-length feature.
Within a half-a-day, it was pretty much a given, that the first premise for the much-anticipated project lacked luster.
So, it was scrapped.
In a group process - all the creative spirits locked heads in regular bull sessions (the talented three were all in attendance at the screening last night to the delight of the film buffs) so that the dynamics could be worked out and solutions to the existing logistical problems resolved.
The sessions sounded like brawls, at times.
"It wasn't for the faint of heart," Anderson fessed up.
After the first meeting - the team unanimously recognized that advancing the story forward - was the best way to go in the instant scenario.
"Usually there is an overture first, Then, the action starts up - at which point - the characters are introduced," Unkrich stated matter-of-fact.
The problem, in this instant case, stood out like a sore thumb.
How were they going to introduce all the old toy characters?
With that in mind, the winsome three-some drummed up the idea that ended up on the screen, after a lot of painstaking toiling on the schematics.
Uh-huh!
There were 60 drafts.
At this juncture - the scenes, once written - were drafted on reels.
Then, each was submitted to the director, for feedback.
The screenwriter (Little Miss Sunshine) joked that - on most live action films - the writing process was kind-of-like being alone in the forest at night.
"You can hear the wolves all around," he kidded.
The soft-spoken phrase-maker underscored, however, that he - as a rule - preferred to shape and hone the script first before sharing the material with the director, producer, and studio brass.
But - Darla Anderson was so protective of the creative environment - that he had a sort-of Epiphany one day.
"I realized I didn't have to worry about when to step on the gas or slam on the brakes."
"Producers have the crappiest job," Garlin piped up.
"Producing is an art," Darla shot back.
According to the insightful producer, it was her role to sit back, and keep track of the whole picture.
There was a lot of trust in the ongoing creative relationships, too, that accounted for the success of TOY STORY 3 at the box office.
"I've read a lot of scripts over the years. They're not all bad, just not finished," Unkrich argued.
As is the case with an actor developing a character, an idea for a script needs to be fleshed out.
"It's all garbage, at first."
A perfect example may have been "Good Will Hunting".
Affleck and Damon both confided in interviews after they won the Oscar - that the award-winning script - also featured a sub-plot about spies that just never gelled.
It wasn't until that material was ferreted out, that the script became a viable working one, that was worth producing.
With TOY STORY 3 - there was also the issue of production values to consider - in light of advancing software technologies which had been developed since TOY STORY 1 first hit the silver screen.
"Toy Story 1 was originally created on DOS," Garland joked!
Because of phenomenal advances in technology, there was a definite need to scrap the original toy story images, and rework them in the latest state-of-the-art rich mediums so they would be relevant in today's highly competitive film marketplace.
"In the old days, it was difficult to create organic images of fur and water," the director acknowledged.
In TOY 3, Woody - for instance - got a makeover.
"But, he didn't end up looking like bad plastic surgery had been performed," Unkridge chuckled.
In the final analysis, the creative team agreed that today anything - "dreamed up" - could be created on film.
"It might be difficult, but it can be done."
At this point, the focus shifted to the actors, when John Horn quizzed Garland about "when he came in" to the picture on the project.
"When they let me," he belly-laughed.
The actor has an infectious quality to his personality that triggers a spontaneous natural response from the audience and puts them at ease.
"To play a character known as - Buttercup - was so cool," he gushed.
At this juncture, the hefty thespian underscored how difficult it was playing an animated part, compared to other roles in regular mediums.
"Tom Hanks asked me which was more difficult - and I told him - the animated work."
He explained that being alone in a room, replaying the scenes over and over again, was tough.
"I thought that all the reshoots were going to be for behind-the-scenes out-takes on a DVD," he fessed up.
Wrong!
The animators used this footage to get a take on his mannerisms and to better develop the feel of his character.
Garland compared part of the process to the distinctive ones used by Chaplin and Keaton.
"You do it over and over again. See what happens. Keep the good things, toss out the bad."
The amused director butted in at this point and admitted that all the material was tested with an audience.
"If it got a laugh, it stayed."
If not, it got the old heave-ho, on the other hand.
Needless to say, Unkridge also acknowledged that when the plaudits come in after the release, it was so life-affirming.
Indeed!
And, why not?
TOY STORY 3 is a charming, entertaining animated feature- that is wholesome and insightful - with wide appeal across the demographics.
At times, the storyline tended to trigger memories of my own childhood, and my own favorite toy!
A film can't be half-bad, when it manages to achieve that moment of nostalgia, for a ticket-holder.
In fact, at the close of the film, I don't expect there was a dry eye in the house, either.
Heart-warming!
Come Oscar time, the nominations will be racking up, deservedly so.
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