Plot of "Wander to Wonder":
Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton—miniature humans from the 1980s children's show Wander to Wonder—once donned whimsical costumes and followed the guidance of their creator and host, Uncle Gilly. After his sudden death in the studio (also his home), the three are left isolated, struggling to survive and make sense of their new reality. Mary clings to the past, performing old routines and reading fan mail; Fumbleton amuses himself with half-dressed Shakespeare monologues; and the mute Billybud obsessively juggles leftover props.
With food dwindling, they begin eating flies drawn to Uncle Gilly’s decaying body. Tensions mount until Billybud accidentally sets the studio ablaze. They escape the fire by hiding in the oven and emerge to find the place in ruins. A bird attempts to attack them, but Fumbleton kills it with a makeshift spear. At last, the trio steps through a hole in the wall into the sunlight, ready to embrace whatever comes next.
Nina Gantz is a Dutch animation director. She is best known for her short film Edmond, which won the Best Animated Short Film Award at the Sundance Film Festival and a BAFTA in 2016. Her 2023 short film Wander to Wonder also earned critical acclaim, receiving nominations for both a BAFTA for Best British Animated Short and an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
1. We’ll start this interview with you winning the BAFTA for Best Animated Short. Could you tell me about your experience before, during, and after your acceptance speech?
So, before I was very nervous, especially having potentially to do a speech. It's kind of nerve-wracking to speak in front of all those people. There was a moment in me that I thought I'd rather not win it, maybe then I don't have to go on the stage.
During the speech, you are just so excited and that it actually doesn't matter anymore, because whatever I've written down on a little piece of paper, I forgot completely anyway and never looked at it. luckily, I did thank the most important people, which is obviously the team that I worked with for all those years because we spent a lot of time on this film and a lot of love with some amazing, talented people. It’s really nice to be able to stand up there and thank them. And of course, I am kind of the face of the film, but it’s really nice to get the opportunity for that moment of appreciation of your team.
Afterwards, I was just super happy, very tired, because we actually just got back from LA on our first bit of the Oscar campaign. So, I still had jet lag and I actually went to bed quite early. I didn't party extremely. I just spoke to my family and friends and that was really lovely. So, I’m just really proud to have won another BAFTA because, in some ways, with the second BAFTA, I felt like it was almost more important to me because the first one I always felt was a bit of a fluke? Was it, maybe, an accident? Now I feel, maybe there’s something I'm doing right here and people understand my weird look of the world.
2. What was your memorable moment at the BAFTA ceremony? Who did you get to meet and conversate?
Yeah, I had a really lovely chat with all the nominated animated films with most of them. I remember speaking to Nick Park there and Merlin, who directed “Vengeance Most Foul” and that was really lovely. I got to meet them both at the Critics Circle Awards as well. It felt like meeting each other there again. It feels like a community, this animation community, which is so lovely that I got to talk to some of my heroes and that they now also knew what I made in my work and that's something very special. So, I met Nick Park and that was very nice. And Merlin, of course.
And some and for instance, the director of Inside Out 2. The previous night I met Chris Sanders who did the Wild Robot. I met him and he really loved my film and that was a big thing for me of course to hear. I loved hearing that his wife is a taxidermist and she really loved our stuffed pigeon that we used in the film.
3. If you had to describe “Wander to Wonder” using three words, it would be…?
Weird, dark, and sweet.
4. Before choosing the title “Wander to Wonder” were there other titles you were considering? If so, what were they?
Yeah, there was. I worked on the film for a long time, for eight years, and it’s gone through many titles. It started off with “Under the Apple Tree”, then “Beyond the Purple Mountains”, and then it was “The Adventures of Mary, Bill and Dick”, and then it ended up as “Wander to Wonder”. That was because I wanted a title that would work for the TV show in the film, because the film is about a kid’s TV show and the behind the scenes of that, the dark behind the scenes.
So, I wanted to work for the TV show, but also for the full film. So, I didn't have two titles, if you see what I mean. I wanted it to work also for the end of the film and for the feeling of being behind the scenes. I think we managed to do that with Wander to Wonder.
5. What inspired you to direct this short film?
I wrote it as well together with some other people. The big inspiration came from my love for a few things. My love for these old stop motion animated kids TV series, the sweet and innocent nature of them, but also looking at them when you're a bit older. Like looking at it in height, like with all the information and all your life experiences that you have, like it contained the image of those sweet and innocent Kid’s TV shows and I thought that juxtaposition was really interesting. So that was one thing.
I really wanted to use live action combined with stop motion one time, because I love the work of Ray Harryhausen. He made films such as “Clash of the Titans” and “Jason and the Argonauts”. I felt like that really traditional old-fashioned technique really stands the test of time and there was something about that that I felt fitted this feeling of nostalgia in this film really well, to be really traditional and to make handcrafted solutions, use handcrafted solutions and have that kind of craft into it. I think that was another layer of storytelling for me.
6. What challenges did you face creating this project?
I think it was actually the creation of the puppets. It was because we were working with a live action TV presenter and we wanted the little puppets to look like miniature humans. They needed to feel like they were part of the same world. They needed to mix well together, the live action and the stop motion characters. But I also didn’t want them to look too real. So, otherwise, I could have just used actors on green screen and made them smaller. So, I still wanted to use them, like to use stop motion puppets and make them fit in with him, with that live action character, but still be stop motion enough for them not be too creepy and to have that layer of storytelling in there because it's quite fun that they also play like these puppets in the TV show and then when they take off their big fluffy costumes, there's little miniature humans inside, but they're actually also stop motion.
So, there's a really interesting layer that goes on there. But then to be able to make them that realistic and still have my style on them, that was really hard. It was quite a difficult process to figure out what they should look like… They're only 20 centimeters tall, which is very small for a stop motion character. Normally, the heads are much bigger and I knew from making the animatic that I needed all that expression in there for the story to work. That meant that I couldn't use any kind of facial armature because I wouldn't get enough out of the expression so I needed to use 3D printing technique. That was a whole other world that I never looked at before and I was a bit scared of because I'm a traditional stop-motion animator so I was scared to dive into that because I couldn’t do it myself. So, what I did is that I sculpted the puppets first in clay in a bigger format. Then I scanned them in with a 3D scanner that got put into the computer. They made 3D models of them. Then we created all the facial replacements for them. Then I did drawings over them to make them more my style and then we printed those out. But the bodies were still made in silicon. So, you get a lot of crafts there, because they came from an actual sculptor. So that was a very nice way of doing it. I don't know if it was the best way or the most economical way of doing it, but it was really great.
The scale was really hard because they are so small, but they're also so small because I used real props. So, the sets that they're on, everything is shot on camera. So, the sets are huge. They're like life-size sets. So, I couldn't go any bigger than that. So, I couldn't make the puppets bigger because otherwise if you made the puppets, you know, the size of this bottle, is 30 centimeters, which is normal for a stop motion puppet, they would have looked like small babies walking around on the set. The scale would have been off. I needed to make them of a certain size to make everything work and to be able to use real props.
7. Neil Salvage, Toby Jones, and Amanda Lawrence are voice actors in your incredible short film. Could you talk about your experience working with and any interesting facts about them?
Well, it was amazing working with those actors. I started off with the voice actors. They got the animatic. They brought way more depth and humanity to those little puppets than I ever could have thought. So, when we did those voice recordings, I noticed that there was so much more to the characters and it convinced me that I should get as much expression out of the puppets as I could. We basically filmed their performance during the voice record. We used that later on when we were animating it. I gave it to the animators to look at all the expressions and the performance of the actors and I think that really helps make it fit very well. For instance, when Amanda talks, she has this sadness to her while she still smiles as well. The corners of her mouth kept being down while she was talking. This is something we sculpted into the mouth of the character, to make it really sit together.
Toby Jones is an amazing actor. He knows Shakespeare very well, which was very handy for this character who is continuously... saying Shakespeare lines, mostly half naked. I was very happy that he wanted to do it. He was the first one I asked. I also already sculpted this character to look like him before I even asked him. So, I was over the moon when he actually said yes. It was so nice to have the right voice to the right design. He gave such a great performance and I'm super happy with that.
Neil Salvage, I don't want to forget about him. He was an amazing uncle Gile. He brought the sweetness and a bit teachery, but also still very sweet. His character felt like this fatherly figure and I think that he nailed that character really well. I think he knew those kinds of series that I was talking about quite well [ in order to impersonate the character]. He was just perfect for it and he was up for anything on the day of the shoot which was great. He was a joy to collaborate with.
8. Congratulations on being nominated for the Oscars, how did you first find out that your film got nominated?
I found out when I was on the train to the Netherlands. I live in England and I was on the train to the Netherlands where I grew up. It was a very dodgy connection at the time and I was trying to see what was happening with the announcement. I really only found out when I got loads of texts all of a sudden. That was really, really fun. It was like something like you've never experienced before.
9. Could you describe your experience witnessing the opening performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the Oscars?
I didn’t see Wicked before. So, I was completely blank. It's funny that you've seen them on the red carpets everywhere where I went, like the BAFTAs and other events and pre-Oscar events. You just forget the amazing skill that they have, that they are there for a very good reason. That's because they're excellent in what they do. Sometimes when you see all the red-carpet photos and I saw them for real, you forget about this. When I saw them up there[ on the Oscars' stage], I felt that they're special and they're excellent in what they do. It was such a grand opening. It was really wonderful to be present for that.
10. What was your most memorable moment at the Oscars event?
Everything was a memorable moment. I hope I don't forget anything anytime soon. I tried to soak up as much as I could. I had a wonderful time afterwards as well, even though of course, we didn't win. I was actually okay with it. I was pleased for the people that did win. I think they have had such a tough time making their film and probably still in the future and I think the prize will hopefully do something for them, will mean something for them. I think that's very nice; that's something like the Oscars can help with that for them. I still feel the nomination was a win for me already. I've been able to meet so many amazing other makers and filmmakers. It's just been very nice for my film to be seen by this many people. It just almost never happens for a short-animated film to get this kind of exposure. That's the only thing you can wish for as a filmmaker and I don't need the golden statue for that.
11. Which party did you go to after the ceremony? Which celebrity did you converse with that night?
Yeah, I went to all the parties. I was actually very tired and I wanted to go to bed because this is in my character. After a big event, I just snuggled on my couch, but my brother made me go. He was like, “Girl, you're going to go to this party because we might never get to this party again”. I was like, “Okay” and we had so much fun. We took a party bus with all the animated short people. We got to know each other really well. That was a really nice thing to close off the journey. We also went to the variety party afterwards, which was really extravagant and fun to see, but I was also very happy to be on my couch, reliving the event, the experience. I'm happy that we went [to the parties] and I got to soak it all up.
And I'm just curious, did you talk to any of the winners or anyone?
I talked to them [winner of the animated short category]. They only just arrived at the Oscars like two hours before it started. They were like deer in the headlight. I think they were so overwhelmed, which I completely understand. It's another world almost, the Oscars, and I feel like we had the chance to warm up to it a little bit and they didn't. So, I think they were overwhelmed, but it was very nice to talk to them. We actually premiered at the same festival, almost two years ago at Venice. We knew each other already from then. So, it was really fun to actually close the whole experience of our films in this way.
I also spoke to Gints from Flow who is a lovely person and I've seen him also at many events. I have known him already over the years. It’s great for an independent film to win. I've seen Adam Elliot who is the loveliest person. He made “Memoir of a Snail” and I really love that film as well. And of course, Nick Park and Merlin. Kelsey Mann and Liz Kearney, the animators who made Inside Out 2. I met some really wonderful makers as well.
There are stars [celebrities] everywhere, but I'm not someone that's going to take pictures with all those people. I would rather have a more meaningful chat with someone. I think I feel quite awkward. I am still an animator. You can be at the Oscars, but you can still be an awkward animator.
12. Are there any novella, novel, short story, or even article that you would like to see made into a stop-motion film?
I have so many in mind, but actually I shouldn't say because I might be making it.
13. What's your next project? What are you working on?
I'm working on two feature films at the moment. One of them is a bit further ahead and is a full stop motion feature film. That's a family film actually. It's all about the pigeons of Amsterdam and it's going to be made with all sorts of bits of garbage. I'm really looking forward to diving into it and making something really special for that, hopefully.
The other one is actually a stop motion combined with live action that I'm making with the same producers of Wander to Wonder. It’s going to be for adults. It's kind of a nightmarish tale of a cruise ship experience that I've had when I was six years old, when I was on the cruise ship with my mom for a long time when she was one of the entertainment people. It's going to follow the humans, the animals, but also all their life forms on the ship. It's gonna be a little bit weird and dark and humorful again. So, I'm looking forward to that.
I also have a “Wander to Wonder” feature film in my head, but I need to step away from it for a moment, because I've been working on it for eight years, so I need to just focus on something else for a moment.
14. Last question, if you have your own talk show instead of a children’s show. What would you name that talk show and who would your first 3 guests be (dead or alive)?
I’ll probably call it [talk show] “Spill the beans”. I would invite all my favorite filmmakers. Maybe Michel Gondry, Alex van Warmerdam and Jan Svankmajer, but he's so old. I don't know if he will still come. Maybe... Michaela Pavlatova and have a chat with them about filmmaking.
Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton—miniature humans from the 1980s children's show Wander to Wonder—once donned whimsical costumes and followed the guidance of their creator and host, Uncle Gilly. After his sudden death in the studio (also his home), the three are left isolated, struggling to survive and make sense of their new reality. Mary clings to the past, performing old routines and reading fan mail; Fumbleton amuses himself with half-dressed Shakespeare monologues; and the mute Billybud obsessively juggles leftover props.
With food dwindling, they begin eating flies drawn to Uncle Gilly’s decaying body. Tensions mount until Billybud accidentally sets the studio ablaze. They escape the fire by hiding in the oven and emerge to find the place in ruins. A bird attempts to attack them, but Fumbleton kills it with a makeshift spear. At last, the trio steps through a hole in the wall into the sunlight, ready to embrace whatever comes next.
Nina Gantz is a Dutch animation director. She is best known for her short film Edmond, which won the Best Animated Short Film Award at the Sundance Film Festival and a BAFTA in 2016. Her 2023 short film Wander to Wonder also earned critical acclaim, receiving nominations for both a BAFTA for Best British Animated Short and an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
1. We’ll start this interview with you winning the BAFTA for Best Animated Short. Could you tell me about your experience before, during, and after your acceptance speech?
So, before I was very nervous, especially having potentially to do a speech. It's kind of nerve-wracking to speak in front of all those people. There was a moment in me that I thought I'd rather not win it, maybe then I don't have to go on the stage.
During the speech, you are just so excited and that it actually doesn't matter anymore, because whatever I've written down on a little piece of paper, I forgot completely anyway and never looked at it. luckily, I did thank the most important people, which is obviously the team that I worked with for all those years because we spent a lot of time on this film and a lot of love with some amazing, talented people. It’s really nice to be able to stand up there and thank them. And of course, I am kind of the face of the film, but it’s really nice to get the opportunity for that moment of appreciation of your team.
Afterwards, I was just super happy, very tired, because we actually just got back from LA on our first bit of the Oscar campaign. So, I still had jet lag and I actually went to bed quite early. I didn't party extremely. I just spoke to my family and friends and that was really lovely. So, I’m just really proud to have won another BAFTA because, in some ways, with the second BAFTA, I felt like it was almost more important to me because the first one I always felt was a bit of a fluke? Was it, maybe, an accident? Now I feel, maybe there’s something I'm doing right here and people understand my weird look of the world.
2. What was your memorable moment at the BAFTA ceremony? Who did you get to meet and conversate?
Yeah, I had a really lovely chat with all the nominated animated films with most of them. I remember speaking to Nick Park there and Merlin, who directed “Vengeance Most Foul” and that was really lovely. I got to meet them both at the Critics Circle Awards as well. It felt like meeting each other there again. It feels like a community, this animation community, which is so lovely that I got to talk to some of my heroes and that they now also knew what I made in my work and that's something very special. So, I met Nick Park and that was very nice. And Merlin, of course.
And some and for instance, the director of Inside Out 2. The previous night I met Chris Sanders who did the Wild Robot. I met him and he really loved my film and that was a big thing for me of course to hear. I loved hearing that his wife is a taxidermist and she really loved our stuffed pigeon that we used in the film.
3. If you had to describe “Wander to Wonder” using three words, it would be…?
Weird, dark, and sweet.
4. Before choosing the title “Wander to Wonder” were there other titles you were considering? If so, what were they?
Yeah, there was. I worked on the film for a long time, for eight years, and it’s gone through many titles. It started off with “Under the Apple Tree”, then “Beyond the Purple Mountains”, and then it was “The Adventures of Mary, Bill and Dick”, and then it ended up as “Wander to Wonder”. That was because I wanted a title that would work for the TV show in the film, because the film is about a kid’s TV show and the behind the scenes of that, the dark behind the scenes.
So, I wanted to work for the TV show, but also for the full film. So, I didn't have two titles, if you see what I mean. I wanted it to work also for the end of the film and for the feeling of being behind the scenes. I think we managed to do that with Wander to Wonder.
5. What inspired you to direct this short film?
I wrote it as well together with some other people. The big inspiration came from my love for a few things. My love for these old stop motion animated kids TV series, the sweet and innocent nature of them, but also looking at them when you're a bit older. Like looking at it in height, like with all the information and all your life experiences that you have, like it contained the image of those sweet and innocent Kid’s TV shows and I thought that juxtaposition was really interesting. So that was one thing.
I really wanted to use live action combined with stop motion one time, because I love the work of Ray Harryhausen. He made films such as “Clash of the Titans” and “Jason and the Argonauts”. I felt like that really traditional old-fashioned technique really stands the test of time and there was something about that that I felt fitted this feeling of nostalgia in this film really well, to be really traditional and to make handcrafted solutions, use handcrafted solutions and have that kind of craft into it. I think that was another layer of storytelling for me.
6. What challenges did you face creating this project?
I think it was actually the creation of the puppets. It was because we were working with a live action TV presenter and we wanted the little puppets to look like miniature humans. They needed to feel like they were part of the same world. They needed to mix well together, the live action and the stop motion characters. But I also didn’t want them to look too real. So, otherwise, I could have just used actors on green screen and made them smaller. So, I still wanted to use them, like to use stop motion puppets and make them fit in with him, with that live action character, but still be stop motion enough for them not be too creepy and to have that layer of storytelling in there because it's quite fun that they also play like these puppets in the TV show and then when they take off their big fluffy costumes, there's little miniature humans inside, but they're actually also stop motion.
So, there's a really interesting layer that goes on there. But then to be able to make them that realistic and still have my style on them, that was really hard. It was quite a difficult process to figure out what they should look like… They're only 20 centimeters tall, which is very small for a stop motion character. Normally, the heads are much bigger and I knew from making the animatic that I needed all that expression in there for the story to work. That meant that I couldn't use any kind of facial armature because I wouldn't get enough out of the expression so I needed to use 3D printing technique. That was a whole other world that I never looked at before and I was a bit scared of because I'm a traditional stop-motion animator so I was scared to dive into that because I couldn’t do it myself. So, what I did is that I sculpted the puppets first in clay in a bigger format. Then I scanned them in with a 3D scanner that got put into the computer. They made 3D models of them. Then we created all the facial replacements for them. Then I did drawings over them to make them more my style and then we printed those out. But the bodies were still made in silicon. So, you get a lot of crafts there, because they came from an actual sculptor. So that was a very nice way of doing it. I don't know if it was the best way or the most economical way of doing it, but it was really great.
The scale was really hard because they are so small, but they're also so small because I used real props. So, the sets that they're on, everything is shot on camera. So, the sets are huge. They're like life-size sets. So, I couldn't go any bigger than that. So, I couldn't make the puppets bigger because otherwise if you made the puppets, you know, the size of this bottle, is 30 centimeters, which is normal for a stop motion puppet, they would have looked like small babies walking around on the set. The scale would have been off. I needed to make them of a certain size to make everything work and to be able to use real props.
7. Neil Salvage, Toby Jones, and Amanda Lawrence are voice actors in your incredible short film. Could you talk about your experience working with and any interesting facts about them?
Well, it was amazing working with those actors. I started off with the voice actors. They got the animatic. They brought way more depth and humanity to those little puppets than I ever could have thought. So, when we did those voice recordings, I noticed that there was so much more to the characters and it convinced me that I should get as much expression out of the puppets as I could. We basically filmed their performance during the voice record. We used that later on when we were animating it. I gave it to the animators to look at all the expressions and the performance of the actors and I think that really helps make it fit very well. For instance, when Amanda talks, she has this sadness to her while she still smiles as well. The corners of her mouth kept being down while she was talking. This is something we sculpted into the mouth of the character, to make it really sit together.
Toby Jones is an amazing actor. He knows Shakespeare very well, which was very handy for this character who is continuously... saying Shakespeare lines, mostly half naked. I was very happy that he wanted to do it. He was the first one I asked. I also already sculpted this character to look like him before I even asked him. So, I was over the moon when he actually said yes. It was so nice to have the right voice to the right design. He gave such a great performance and I'm super happy with that.
Neil Salvage, I don't want to forget about him. He was an amazing uncle Gile. He brought the sweetness and a bit teachery, but also still very sweet. His character felt like this fatherly figure and I think that he nailed that character really well. I think he knew those kinds of series that I was talking about quite well [ in order to impersonate the character]. He was just perfect for it and he was up for anything on the day of the shoot which was great. He was a joy to collaborate with.
8. Congratulations on being nominated for the Oscars, how did you first find out that your film got nominated?
I found out when I was on the train to the Netherlands. I live in England and I was on the train to the Netherlands where I grew up. It was a very dodgy connection at the time and I was trying to see what was happening with the announcement. I really only found out when I got loads of texts all of a sudden. That was really, really fun. It was like something like you've never experienced before.
9. Could you describe your experience witnessing the opening performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the Oscars?
I didn’t see Wicked before. So, I was completely blank. It's funny that you've seen them on the red carpets everywhere where I went, like the BAFTAs and other events and pre-Oscar events. You just forget the amazing skill that they have, that they are there for a very good reason. That's because they're excellent in what they do. Sometimes when you see all the red-carpet photos and I saw them for real, you forget about this. When I saw them up there[ on the Oscars' stage], I felt that they're special and they're excellent in what they do. It was such a grand opening. It was really wonderful to be present for that.
10. What was your most memorable moment at the Oscars event?
Everything was a memorable moment. I hope I don't forget anything anytime soon. I tried to soak up as much as I could. I had a wonderful time afterwards as well, even though of course, we didn't win. I was actually okay with it. I was pleased for the people that did win. I think they have had such a tough time making their film and probably still in the future and I think the prize will hopefully do something for them, will mean something for them. I think that's very nice; that's something like the Oscars can help with that for them. I still feel the nomination was a win for me already. I've been able to meet so many amazing other makers and filmmakers. It's just been very nice for my film to be seen by this many people. It just almost never happens for a short-animated film to get this kind of exposure. That's the only thing you can wish for as a filmmaker and I don't need the golden statue for that.
11. Which party did you go to after the ceremony? Which celebrity did you converse with that night?
Yeah, I went to all the parties. I was actually very tired and I wanted to go to bed because this is in my character. After a big event, I just snuggled on my couch, but my brother made me go. He was like, “Girl, you're going to go to this party because we might never get to this party again”. I was like, “Okay” and we had so much fun. We took a party bus with all the animated short people. We got to know each other really well. That was a really nice thing to close off the journey. We also went to the variety party afterwards, which was really extravagant and fun to see, but I was also very happy to be on my couch, reliving the event, the experience. I'm happy that we went [to the parties] and I got to soak it all up.
And I'm just curious, did you talk to any of the winners or anyone?
I talked to them [winner of the animated short category]. They only just arrived at the Oscars like two hours before it started. They were like deer in the headlight. I think they were so overwhelmed, which I completely understand. It's another world almost, the Oscars, and I feel like we had the chance to warm up to it a little bit and they didn't. So, I think they were overwhelmed, but it was very nice to talk to them. We actually premiered at the same festival, almost two years ago at Venice. We knew each other already from then. So, it was really fun to actually close the whole experience of our films in this way.
I also spoke to Gints from Flow who is a lovely person and I've seen him also at many events. I have known him already over the years. It’s great for an independent film to win. I've seen Adam Elliot who is the loveliest person. He made “Memoir of a Snail” and I really love that film as well. And of course, Nick Park and Merlin. Kelsey Mann and Liz Kearney, the animators who made Inside Out 2. I met some really wonderful makers as well.
There are stars [celebrities] everywhere, but I'm not someone that's going to take pictures with all those people. I would rather have a more meaningful chat with someone. I think I feel quite awkward. I am still an animator. You can be at the Oscars, but you can still be an awkward animator.
12. Are there any novella, novel, short story, or even article that you would like to see made into a stop-motion film?
I have so many in mind, but actually I shouldn't say because I might be making it.
13. What's your next project? What are you working on?
I'm working on two feature films at the moment. One of them is a bit further ahead and is a full stop motion feature film. That's a family film actually. It's all about the pigeons of Amsterdam and it's going to be made with all sorts of bits of garbage. I'm really looking forward to diving into it and making something really special for that, hopefully.
The other one is actually a stop motion combined with live action that I'm making with the same producers of Wander to Wonder. It’s going to be for adults. It's kind of a nightmarish tale of a cruise ship experience that I've had when I was six years old, when I was on the cruise ship with my mom for a long time when she was one of the entertainment people. It's going to follow the humans, the animals, but also all their life forms on the ship. It's gonna be a little bit weird and dark and humorful again. So, I'm looking forward to that.
I also have a “Wander to Wonder” feature film in my head, but I need to step away from it for a moment, because I've been working on it for eight years, so I need to just focus on something else for a moment.
14. Last question, if you have your own talk show instead of a children’s show. What would you name that talk show and who would your first 3 guests be (dead or alive)?
I’ll probably call it [talk show] “Spill the beans”. I would invite all my favorite filmmakers. Maybe Michel Gondry, Alex van Warmerdam and Jan Svankmajer, but he's so old. I don't know if he will still come. Maybe... Michaela Pavlatova and have a chat with them about filmmaking.
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