\u201cRise of the Guardians\u201d is Peter Ramsey\u2019s first feature film after directing the hit DreamWorks Animation Halloween special, \u201cMonsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space.\u201d This project followed the feature film, \u201cMonsters vs. Aliens\u201d on which Ramsey served as Head of Story. While at DreamWorks Animation, Ramsey also served as a story artist on \u201cShrek the Third,\u201d and as a story board artist on \u201cShark Tale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before joining DreamWorks Animation in 2004, Ramsey\u2019s talent as a storyboard artist was on display while working on a notable number of live action feature films, including \u201cAdaptation,\u201d \u201cMinority Report,\u201d \u201cA.I. Artificial Intelligence,\u201d \u201cCast Away\u201d, \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas,\u201d \u201cFight Club,\u201d \u201cGodzilla,\u201d \u201cMen in Black,\u201d \u201cIndependence Day,\u201d \u201cBatman Forever,\u201d \u201cFar and Away,\u201d \u201cBackdraft,\u201d and \u201cPredator 2\u201d amongst others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramsey\u2019s directing skills were also honed early, as he served as Second Unit Director on live action feature films including \u201cGodzilla,\u201d \u201cTank Girl,\u201d \u201cHigher Learning,\u201d and \u201cPoetic Justice.\u201d A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, California, Peter grew-up in Crenshaw, and graduated from Palisades High School before attending UCLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, he talks about his life and career, and about being the first African-American to direct a full-length, animated feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kam Williams:<\/strong> Hi Peter, thanks for the interview. I\u2019m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Ramsey:<\/strong> Oh, the pleasure\u2019s all mine, Kam. The pleasure\u2019s all mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> I really enjoyed Rise of the Guardians. Let me start by asking you what it meant to make history as the first African-American hired by a big studio to direct a full-length, animated feature?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> I thought about it a little bit when I first got the job, but then rapidly got lost in the work. It wasn\u2019t until later, when my mom and dad read that fact about me in the newspaper, and I saw how it affected them, that it came back to me. Since I talk to a lot of groups at schools, one good thing is that kids can look at me and have direct knowledge of someone who\u2019s doing something they might be dreaming of doing themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> How did you get the gig? Judging from your bio, it seems like you\u2019ve been a storyboard artist most of your career until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Right. I got into film as a storyboard artist, but my dream was always to be a director. The way I was able to get into the industry was through drawing. As a storyboard artist, you basically pre-visualize the whole film through drawing. So, I spent a lot of my career doing that with many different directors. That was really film school for me, my training ground, because I got to work with so many great people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> So, what was your academic background? Did you study art?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> I\u2019m pretty much self-taught. I took a couple of art classes in high school, and I entered college with the intention of majoring in art. But I was a little too young when I started at UCLA at 17, and I wasn\u2019t ready for the concept of art that was being taught there. I was intimidated by Art History, and didn\u2019t get it. All I was interested in was drawing. I wish I had been able to hang tough, but I dropped out after a couple years. Of course, I did learn a bunch of that stuff later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Editor\/Legist Patricia Turnier was wondering whether the film is faithful to the book series it\u2019s based upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> An interesting thing about the movie and the books is that they were both being developed at the same time. The books\u2019 author, Bill Joyce, in his talks with the studio, said, \u201cIt would be really cool, if I could do a series of books about the origins of these characters, how they came to be and their backs stories while you guys were simultaneously developing a movie about the first time they all came together.\u201d So, they\u2019re all the same characters and they share the same mythology, but the movie and the books are pretty different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Patricia also asks: What message do you want children to take away from your movie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> The main message of the film is that you have the power to create magic through your imagination and to bring it into the world, whether that\u2019s in the form of the Guardian characters who represent a lot of things we need, or whether it\u2019s just anybody creating something. That is the best way to fight fear. That\u2019s probably the central idea of the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Why did you tweak these familiar characters, like giving Santa a Russian accent and making him look a little different from what we\u2019ve come to expect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> The basic idea behind the books was to suggest that you grew up with a made-up version of all these characters, as if there\u2019s a secret world alongside our world, and we\u2019ve never known the whole truth about it. What you see in the movie and the books is the real truth about what these guys are. And it\u2019s pretty cool, more like a Lord of the Rings kind of epic, fantasy world they all operate in as opposed to the cute, fluffy image you get from greeting cards. That was the central idea of the books. We thought that was pretty interesting and a really fresh way to get people to take another look at these characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: Where were some \u201cGuardians\u201d when the hunters shot Bambi\u2019s mother? I can still hear the shot ring out all those many years ago. How much trauma-less support can animation\/fable offer young children without some need of a degree of reality check?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Wow! I\u2019m not sure what to do with that question. I can\u2019t answer for Bambi. We have a mom in our movie. Some form of reality check? Yeah, I don\u2019t know what to do with that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Film student Jamaal Green asks: What is your favorite film, and is there a filmmaker whose work inspired you to make the move to becoming a director?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Omigosh, I literally have too many favorite movies to name them all. But I can throw a few out there: Kurosawa\u2026 Coppola\u2026 David Lean\u2026 I\u2019m a huge fan of Ang Lee. And there are tons of French films I love. Like I said, way too many to mention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Of course! Are you kidding? [LOL] But you have to realize that fear is something that lives in your mind, just like all the positive things that reside there. The key is to try to find a balance or a way for the positive to at least cancel out what the fear is telling you. Most of the time, fear is taking something that sounds very rational and blowing it out of proportion, and letting your mind run away with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> Will you next film be live-action or animated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know. So much depends on how this one is received and how well it does? I\u2019d love to make another animated film, because I feel like I\u2019m really just beginning to learn how to use all these tools. It\u2019s a real experience working in a big studio system. It\u2019s like learning how to command a battleship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> I\u2019m very happy with the work and the spirit my crew brought to the movie. I couldn\u2019t be prouder of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> The Teri Emerson question: When was the last time you had a good laugh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Today! I\u2019ve been laughing a lot lately. [LOL] This is my first time directing, and it\u2019s been quite a roller coaster ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> What is your guiltiest pleasure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR:<\/strong> Playing the video game Halo 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KW:<\/strong> The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n