Interview: William Joyce, Moonbot Studios Co-Founder and Co-Director of Morris Lessmore

On Friday I had the pleasure of speaking to the very kind, very friendly and very funny William Joyce, on the phone from Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana. Joyce, a co-founder of Moonbot, co-directed their debut short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, with Brandon Oldenburg last year. The short was nominated against, among others, Pixar's La Luna (my interview with La Luna director Enrico Casarosa, here), and actually won the prestigious award - one won several times by the incomparable Walt Disney!

William was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule - he's also working on DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians and Blue Sky Studios' Epic; both based on books of his - to talk to me about several topics. In our extensive 40 minute interview, William talks passionately about Morris Lessmore and its solemn origins, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and its effects on him, touches enthusiastically on the Oscar experience, Moonbot as a studio and its next steps, as well as working with other studios and how Rise of the Guardians and Epic are turning out.

As per, I'm indebted to - as well as William, for taking the time out of his schedule to speak to me, and for being so friendly - the brilliant people who helped organise it. Specifically, I want to thank Trish Farnsworth-Smith for being so brilliant in setting this interview up.

Check out the interview after the jump break!

Oscar Results - Rango and Morris Lessmore Take Home Awards

Last night was the 84th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, emanating from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, celebrating the greatest achievements in cinema over the past 12 months.

Taking home the most prolific awards of the night, including Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius) and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), was, unsurprisingly, The Artist. The french, black-and-white, silent film drew with Martin Scorsese's Hugo for total number of awards won, at 5 each. However, Hugo took home the more technical awards, including Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.

In terms of animation, the Gore Verbinski directed western flick, Rango, took home the award for Best Animated Feature, beating out A Cat in Paris, Chico and Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots. Upon winning the award, Verbinski (pictured top with the statue) said:

"Someone asked me if this film was for kids. I don’t know, but it was certainly created by a bunch of grown-ups acting like children."

The Best Animated Short Film award was this year given to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by Shreveport based Moonbot Studios. Directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg (pictured above) were on hand to accept the honour. It's a huge honour and great sign of recognition for the studio's first short film; read more on Moonbot's website.

Bret McKenzie also took home the Best Original Song award for Man or Muppet, it's just a shame The Muppets didn't snag more nominations.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all involved in all of the films that won and those nominated. Read the full list of winners here.

Spotlight on Short Films: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Given this site's new self touted focus on classic short films and cartoons, it seems only appropriate to cover a broader range of animated shorts. Up until recently, Pixar has been my main outlet of animated shorts - with a few Disney ones cropping up too - however, I've recently started watching more, and one that I particularly loved (to the extent that it deserved its own post) is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

The short, "inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor.". You've likely, if you haven't seen it, heard the short mentioned in the context of it being one of the 5 shorts nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar this year, and there's a reason it's nominated! Personally, I loved I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat (the Looney Tunes short attached to Happy Feet Two) and that didn't get an Oscar nod, whereas Morris Lessmore did, so that should tell you something about the amazing quality of this short. Having now seen it, I can safely say that it would've caused me some hesitancy in my choice for the Best Animated Short Film A113Animation Award this year.

I'm harping on here, but my superlatives and hyperbole are apt in this case, as Morris Lessmore is brilliant. This shan't be a full review, as this post is intended merely to get you to go out and watch this short and to praise Moonbot Studios (the company behind it) for their talent. The animation is luscious and the style charming, the musical accompaniment is soft and nostalgic and it's an all round very touching, poignant film about the effect that books and, more broadly than that, - as this seems to be the mantra of Moonbot - about the effect that story can have on us.

Moonbot have done a wonderful job here and (having not seen any of their rival nominees - although I hear nothing but glowing reviews of Pixar's La Luna) I'd say they have a strong chance at the 84th Academy Awards later this month; they'd certainly deserve it. The studio who say, rather than devoted to any one medium - as they've also released a few acclaimed iPad apps - they are devoted to telling the best story they can. One thing's for certain, co-directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg and their team at Moonbot have certainly accomplished that here.

To surmise in platitudinal terms: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is fantastic!

Watch The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore on Moonbot's website via Vimeo; visit the short's official site (where you can see some great concept art); and like both the short and Moonbot's official Facebook pages.