Don Hertzfeldt is an independent film-maker working in the medium of animation. His unique style of squiggly stick figures and absurdist's comedy has developed through short films such as the infamous Billy's Balloon and Rejected up through his most recent Everything Will Be Ok, which has just been released as a DVD single from Hertzfeldt's own Bitter Films .
I got the chance to talk with Don through email and the resulting interview is laced with his biting sense of humor that will hopefully give you unique insight and appreciation of the film-maker and his work. The interview will be featured in parts throughout the week. Here is part numero uno in which we discuss the success of Everything Will Be OK . . .
Bridgerack: Your latest work, Everything Will Be Ok, is an absolutely wonderful film. To me, it recalls that rarified sense of pure magic felt in a Wes Anderson movie or at a Flaming Lips concert, in that it is a unique and fully-formed world unto itself that can truly reach and affect people. From where did you get the inspiration for the bittersweet beauty of Everything Will Be Ok?
Don Hertzfeldt: thanks.. it's hard to say, so much comes from different directions. the roots go back to bill's original comic strips i wrote in 99 and while i made the other movies it's gone over continued changes in my head. spare parts come from dreams, conversations, memories, people-watching.. the worst thing i can do as a writer is sit down and stare at the blank page and torture myself. the best ideas come when i'm not expecting them, when i don't know why or how they popped in... i seem to catch ideas more than i come up with them. and then i just go find the common threads of all these stray moments and half-events and start fitting them together. rewriting and swapping things around through the whole production. i don't think i've ever written a piece straight from A to Z... i might start animating a project with only R, S, and T and as i go i'll slowly fill the rest of those blanks in as they come. animating takes so long, i've got more than enough time to wait for the story to complete itself as i feel my way through. OK was a little further along and had most of its major points figured out by the time i really dove in, but there's still some profound differences between the first draft and the final thing.
I understand you are working on, if not a proper sequel, a direct follow-up to Everything WIll Be Ok. How is that coming along? What exactly are you working on now?
yeah if i can get a little more motivated i could be done with photography and animation on chapter 2 of OK maybe around the holidays. i'm not sure what the differences are between a proper sequel and a direct follow-up, but it takes place both before and after the events of OK. it's a bit ambitious. of course it will help to have seen OK, but i think it will be strong enough to stand alone as its own movie too.
a year ago i had most of chapter 2 written, with a few leftover ideas and story threads laid down for chapter 3... but last month i couldn't help but cannibalize them and merged everything i had into this one. so right now chapter 2 has the ending that was originally intended for chapter 3. it raised it up to a new level and i'm just beginning to find its final shape now... but of course left me with a new blank slate for whatever's gonna happen in part 3, which is exciting and a little terrifying. most people probably don't write trilogies without knowing quite where it's all gonna end up. or maybe they just don't admit it. i have a few ideas of where the arc will eventually take us in 3 but of course it could all change again tomorrow. but so far so good, 1 and 2 are the strongest things i've ever written. and my jaw dropped at a couple of the shots i've gotten back for this one. so it's shaping up to be my favorite of everything so far and right now i just have to not screw it all up before reaching the finish line.
i should also mention i've very recently meanwhile officially started something new for television.. it's one of those things where even if it's a complete failure it should be a really interesting one. just beginning to write that and looking forward to seeing how that whole world is gonna work. will be able to roll up my sleeves with it as soon as chapter 2 moves out of the house.
Everything Will Be Ok won top honors for short film-making at 2007's Sundance Film Festival. Have you at all sensed that the animation community seemed to feel a personal victory for your perceived "win over live action?"
yeah i don't know how often that happens. i try not to place a lot of stock in awards but it's always good to see those minor victories happen for animation. and i do get tremendous satisfaction from crushing all the other filmmakers, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their women.
Your work seems to have matured at an almost alarming rate - - to go from the devilishly crude humor of Billy's Balloon and Rejected to the epic existentialism of The Meaning of Life to wetting audience's eyes in Everything Will Be Ok - - how did that journey through film-making develop? Had your desire to touch the audience beyond making them laugh at bleeding anuses always been there or did something change for you?
i don't feel like i've changed very much. maybe just gotten more comfortable and well-oiled on the technical side of things, but the basic ideas for the meaning of life and those earliest OK-related comic strips all date back to when i was doing rejected. if anything i think i just didn't have the experience or confidence yet to know how to put those kinds of ideas on the screen. they're more complex with more deeper notes to hit. but i think all the movies are basically speaking the same language.
