Writer/director has ties to Polson
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Interesting people, from ranchers to business people to actors, call the Mission Valley home. Although writer/director Brad Bird doesn’t live in the Flathead now, he was born in Kalispell. Growing up, he spent summers at Bird Point on the south end of Flathead Lake.
A San Francisco Bay area resident now, Bird’s latest job was director of “Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol.”
With sole writing credit for “The Incredibles,” Bird also was involved in the making of “Ratatouille,” “The Iron Giant” and “Batteries Not Included,” among other projects.
Animation was Bird’s first love.
“Something happened to me when I saw “The Jungle Book,” Bird said during a phone interview. “I knew I wanted to do this.”
“He was always drawing,” cousin Mary McDonald said of Bird.
“I was lucky enough to meet several of the Disney animators at age 11. They were looking at me like ‘This kid is going to be interested in this for about a month.’ They were in shock when I showed up three years later with a 15-minute film,” Bird said.
According to his biography, Bird was mentored during his high school years by Milt Kahl, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men, animators who worked on classic Disney films.
Bird knew how cool animation and this mentorship were, but he was the only one who did.
“I was working with the best animators on the planet, and the only ones who knew were just me and my parents, because I told them,” Bird remembered.
For his classmates, animation wasn’t that interesting, Bird said. “It was like studying acting with (Marlon) Brando but having no one be impressed with it.”
Fans of “The Incredibles” or “Ratatouille” know Bird creates characters who have human foibles and are likeable, such as Bob Parr, Mr. Incredible, Helen Parr, Elastigirl, Edna Mode, teenager Violet Parr, Remy and Alfredo Linguini. He said characters are important both in animation or live action.
In action films, Bird explained that directors and stunt crews spend quite a lot of effort setting up elaborate stunts.
“You can have the biggest fireball ever,” Bird explained, ”but people have to care about the person who’s running from that fireball. You can razzle- dazzle people for about five minutes, but then they have to care.”
In an interview on the website Den of Geek, an interviewer said Bird used “tactical silence” in his films.
Bird explained, “Movies are similar to music. If they settle into one constant rhythm, they lose people’s interest.”
Just as extended pieces of music change tempo and volume to keep people engaged, Bird said even if he has a film that’s fairly fast paced, he will quiet it down with sections with less movement, either via the camera or the character.
“When you accelerate again, people really feel it,” Bird said. “If you go from 150 to 200 miles per hour, it doesn’t seem to be as much as going from zero to 60 mph.”
For “Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” Bird, his crew and actors journeyed to Dubai, the Czech Republic, Russia, India and Colorado with the signature action scene shot in Dubai at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
For an animated film, going on location isn’t necessary since Bird said animation is more of an indoor sport.
“But it’s a longer haul — three to six years in production,” he explained.
Animation is relatively controlled, and if things don’t work, they can be addressed, he noted, adding, “It’s not the giant money hemorrhage it can be in live action.”
“I love the medium of film — movement, acting, composition, color, music, photography, and dance, for a musical, ” Bird said.
As far as the advantage of spontaneity of live action, Bird said it would be a little harder for him if he had only done animation, but when he was growing up, Bird dabbled in a lot of different arts. He was on the board of a theatre group, took acting classes so he could talk to actors fairly comfortably, was into still photography and developed his own photos, wrote things and drew.
“I jumped around,” Bird said, “So (directing live action) has been fairly comfortable for me.”
As for advice for young people in the arts, he said, “I would say, ‘Believe in your ability to learn and grow.’ The most important thing is to keep the attitude of a student. Students get to learn and improve.”
This advice comes from the old Disney masters, Bird explained, since in their 60s and 70s, they still had the attitude of students.
“They were always learning, ready to learn, making themselves uncomfortable. It kept them sharp, and their work stayed excellent.”
“Be tough on yourself,” he continued, “But not to the point you ever stop working.”
