Brad Bird talks 'The Incredibles'

The writer/director tells Time Out about his inspiration for the movie and the future of traditional, hand-drawn animation.

Nov 17 2004

Brad Bird is flying high at the moment. His new movie, 'The Incredibles' is already a smash hit in the States, grossing more than $70 million in its opening weekend and providing Pixar with its most lucrative box office debut yet.

Telling the tale of a family of retired superheroes struggling to come to terms with their newly anonymous, everyday lives before eventually being forced back into action, it also may well be Pixar's most well-rounded movie yet, and much of the credit for that should go to writer/director Bird.

His characters are so real that at times you feel you could reach out and touch them, and that's exactly what he was aiming for when he wrote the story: 'Everything in this movie is believable and real,' he told Time Out's Nick Bradshaw, 'Except Mr Incredible's bulging middle-aged waistline. That's the only flight of fancy.'

Bird says that much of the inspiration for the characters at the story's heart came from his own family, combined with the films he watched throughout his childhood: 'It's a blend of all the movies I loved as a kid, and still like – action movies, superhero and spy shows, mixed with my own feelings about the family I grew up with and the family I have now.'

And that family is all set to capture the hearts and minds of British cinemagoers when 'The Incredibles' is released nationwide next week. But with the film currently sitting at number one at the American box office, and with the similarly computer generated 'The Polar Express' not far behind at number two, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the end is nigh for traditional hand-drawn animation.

Bird sees it very differently however: 'I honestly don't believe people are no longer interested in any other medium of animation than CG,' he explained, 'I think that's just ridiculous. I think businessmen like to hear that, because everyone can buy a computer. But you can't buy great characters or stories – that's a very scary reality that the movie industry has been trying to deal with for a hundred years.'

Bird cites Pixar's constant efforts to come up with something new and original as the reason for their success, and with his own incredible 'Incredibles' it seems that the company may just have made its most original and entertaining effort yet.

'The Incredibles' previews this weekend and is released nationwide on November 26.

A full interview with Brad Bird appears in Time Ourt London November 17-24 2004. Issue No. 1787.