On behalf of The Nerds of Color, I had the opportunity to attend a virtual presentation with Spellbound Director Vicky Jenson, Editor Susan Fitzer, Head of Story Brian Pimental, Production Designer Brett Nystul, and Character Art Director Guillermo Ramirez to hear about the filmmaking process.

Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious young daughter of the rulers of Lumbria who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters.

During the Q&A portion, the creatives answered three of my questions, which you can read below:

What were the most intriguing elements of the story itself for you to explore and bring to life?
Brett Nystul:  Well, obviously, we started with the characters, and so we have these amazing, fantastical animals, but where do you put these animals in a world that they live in?  As I started early on, just designing a castle that’s made from a tree, but it has an architectural base to it and then, you jump into all these — I think every sequence that we did from the Dark Forest to a moving sand landscape and the canyons, there’s a whole world that’s there. Yeah, so it was just exploring each one of these and making sure, like I said earlier too, that it’s a place we all want to go visit and we all wanted to explore ourselves. It just opened the doors for it. 

Is there a specific moment or song from the film that you really related to or resonated with?
Brian Pimental: Yeah, I think there’s a remembering song later in the story…
Vicky Jenson: The monsters do regain their voices, but they don’t remember [who they are] that they’re human, that they’re the parents of Ellian, or anything, and that’s what that song is about. 

Pimental: Yeah and I mean, it also kind of correlates, not directly, but with our aging parents and things, and myself when I start forgetting words. It’s just that thing that happens or even memories that you’ve forgotten until somebody reminds you of something. 
Jenson: But you feel the yearning for it, even though you don’t know what it is. It’s a very strange feeling.  

Pimental: What’s amazing about this film is each song has its kind of own genre, and each one has its own emotion too. It’s amazing to see them all just into one film. 

What is the most underrated quality of a fairy tale? 
Susan Fitzer: Well, that’s a tough one.  I mean, I don’t know if it’s underrated, but just being able to see yourself through the eyes of kind of this allegory and going back to the earlier question you asked Vicky, I always liked Cinderella. Not because of the ending up with the Prince, but it’s a character who, no matter how tough things get, doesn’t give up and she’s going towards her goal and kind of finding yourself in that fairy tale and something relatable. I think that’s what we’ve achieved here with this film is we have so many lush characters here that you can find yourself, I think many people will find themselves with Ellian, but others may with the parents. They’ll find themselves with the parents or with one of the ministers and I think that’s the most underrated. 

Nystul: Oh, yeah, that’s a tough one when you asked it ‘cause fairy tales, there’s always a meaning behind ‘em, but I think it is… Susan I love that you said that you can, it’s almost like the underdog story and I think it’s not necessarily underdog though, it’s just finding your path in a way. 

Jenson: Well, yeah, it’s a tough one, because fairy tales, when they come down through the ages, only the things that really resonate stick. Myths get reinvented with every generation, except for the key elements that really reflect what it means to be a human being.  So, even Shrek, although it’s deconstructed, it still is a fairy tale, as is this one, because the meaning shines through regardless of whether it’s told through some humorous characters, irreverent humor, or the hero isn’t the knight but the ogre. The key elements sift through. So, it’s hard to say what might be underrated, but maybe that’s what it is, is understanding that the skeleton inside the fairy tale is what really holds through the ages.