Rocket/Touchstone Pictures' Gnomeo and Juliet had a serious will to live. The passion project of Elton John and his partner David Furnish, it was introduced to the duo's Rocket Pictures imprint by writers John R. Smith and Rob Sprackling.
Originally supposed to be a Disney Animation film, Gnomeo and Juliet was unceremoniously chucked by incoming chief creative officer John Lasseter in 2006. It then shifted to Disney subsidiary Miramax until that imprint was killed in 2010. It then moved to Touchstone Pictures, making it the first animated film released by that company since 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
In Part 2 of this round-table interview, Gnomeo and Juliet director Asbury disclosed how he worked with composer James Newton Howard to bring Elton John's songs to the film. Here, he talks about researching gnomes, the movie's ending and the biggest criticism against the film.
S101: Did you travel outside of America to research garden gnomes? Germany is supposed to be the gnomes' homeland.
Asbury: "I certainly explored the whole world gnome culture, which does vary from country to country. Germany's Black Forest seems to be where all the gnomes originally came from, at least the "Forest Gnome" variety, who supposedly live among us, but remain out of our sight. Gnomeo and Juliet centers on the "Good Luck Garden Gnomes" who watch over our flowers and shrubs. While I didn't travel to Germany for this information, I certainly studied it all . . . more so than I ever imagined I would."
S101: Was the ending, so different from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, a way to preserve the possibility of a sequel?
Asbury: "We wanted a happy ending, but the one we came up with was not in order to purposefully engineer a possible sequel."
S101: Every new movie of you takes up 3-4 years of your life. How does it feel for you, if people or critics don't like your movie? Or when they do like it?
Asbury: "I love animation and movies. That's why I make them. Certainly I want as many people as possible to like the movies I work on, but I know that I'll never please everyone. Different tastes are what makes the entertainment business so varied and fun . . . and what a dull world it would be otherwise."
S101: It seems like there's a lot of adult humour in Gnomeo & Juliet. When writing jokes that are supposed to go over kids' heads and appeal to their parents, how far is too far?
Asbury: "Those answers come as the story reel gets tested and revised. It becomes clear when a joke goes to far or simply doesn't work like I'd hoped. The story reel is the best tool I have as a filmmaker. It contains all my answers. It's my job to pay attention and learn from it."
S101: But Gnomeo and Juliet was often accused of "being too referential for its own good." How would you respond to that assessment?
Asbury: "It's difficult to say. Many people have told me how much they love the referential humour. It really depends on one's sensibility, I suppose. I'm a huge Mel Brooks fan, and I love satirical movies like the Zucker Brothers' Airplane. I grew up reading MAD magazine...I guess all that rubbed off a little."
S101: What was the best part about working on Gnomeo and Juliet?
Asbury: "It's really rather difficult to isolate one favorite aspect about making Gnomeo and Juliet. For me, directing animation is a series of short term goals that extend over a period of up to four years, so there are many milestones to hit, and each of those has its rewards.
"Still, I'd say that the real joy in making Gnomeo and Juliet is the collaboration with so many vastly talented artists and technicians, each doing their part toward the common goal of making as entertaining a movie as possible. My job is never boring and no two days are alike. I basically get to make up stories and draw pictures for a living. What could be better than that?"
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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