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GR: You also worked with the pulp painter Frank Frazetta, who has a very different style. PC: Both Frazetta and Moebius are very old school, classical craftsman. A lot of the guys today are really much more into their own style. GR: Aeon Flux and Matriculated are set in original sci-fi universes, whereas Reign: the Conquerer, which aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, was based on the history of Alexander the Great. Was working with existing details liberating or more difficult to deal with? PC: It was very different from what I was used to doing because I'm used to creating everything from scratch. But, yeah, it was liberating because it let me off the hook. I wasn't as responsible because I was dealing with something that had already been set down. That also applies to The Animatrix, where I dealt with a world that had been predefined. In a sense, both Alexander and Animatrix allowed me to put my spin on something else. |
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GR: When you worked on the Charles Barkley commercial for Nike, was it different to dealing with the sports industry instead of MTV or film people? PC: I did some animation on that commercial but wasn't the designer or director. It was different, but for me it was a chance to work with a very strong director, Mike Smith. That was in more in my mind than Charles Barkley. I had no idea who he was. I'm not a basketball fan. GR: Most people still associate you with Aeon Flux. How do you look back at that experience now? PC: The reality is that when you work for a network like MTV, there are a lot of influences on you: pressure from the network, having to meet deadlines, and coming up with a budget. These have nothing to do with what drives you to make something. I knew that going in. I worked in television a lot before that. The main thing I got out of it was that doing a television series is not the ideal outlet for the kind of animation that I want to do. GR: What is your ideal outlet? PC: I'm currently trying to get my independent feature film going. That's my definition of an ideal now. I get offers from the major studios all the time, but I turn them down because in the end I want to make films not for the sake of making films ‹ which is what I would be doing if I worked at a studio. I have something specific and personal that I want to express. I don't think a studio well let me do that, at least not yet. |