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It was an interesting challenge because, obviously for Mikros, it would have been a lot easier for them to do the whole production in Paris, but we were keenly interested in having production in London, because we were living there and the movie is actually set there, so it was a unique opportunity to do an animated film on-location, so to speak.”
Eric Leighton, Animation Director – interview for Animation World Network, April 2, 2018

Overall, the animators stressed that working with Stevenson was quite a positive experience.

“He was so happy with everything we were doing, that the crew would be happy,” Leighton underscores. “It became like a motivational thing, more than a dark approval session, and everybody ended up wanting to come to our dailies. We were just super-energized, and super-positive.”

He added that he also had to look at a lot of animation schools to find the talent he needed.

“We had a lot of juniors that I ended up hiring for this show but they were super passionate,” he said, adding that the animation schools these days are much less technical and much more into the art and craft of animation. “So what I ended up with on the show was all of the mix of seniors, with all these passionate juniors coming in, everybody in the middle, and they all taught each other.”

Leighton is also proud of the fact that they ended up with almost a 50/50 gender split, on the animation crew, “I have never had anything close,” he says. “You’re always fighting to get a mix of people and energy, but I’ve never had that before, and it really made a big difference to our crew. It totally changed the energy on the floor. It wasn’t a boys’ club; it was a real mix of people. It was super unique in that way, and I think that a lot of people will be walking away from this job as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A lot of bonds were made. It was super memorable.”