Bobby Pontillas, Andrew Chesworth and Shaofu Zhang worked together at Walt Disney Animation Studios on several hit, Oscar-winning movies. When Zhang decided to leave the Mouse House and form Taiko Studios he recruited his two friends to join him. Now they’ve got an Oscar nominee of their own in Best Animated Short Film contender One Small Step.

Jackson Murphy: So how did you guys react to the big news?

Bobby Pontillas: I woke up at 5:00 in the morning. Me and my girlfriend wanted to just see the nominations right out loud. And when they said “One Small Step”, I screamed at the top of my lungs, jumped onto the floor and probably woke up all my neighbors. And then I called these two. I called Andrew and Shaofu and just cried to them. I screamed at them and then cried to them and said, “We did it! We did it! We did it!” I was their alarm clock.

Andrew Chesworth: So I woke up to some missed calls from Bobby and my girlfriend violently shaking me and saying, “You got nominated!” And my eyes just burst open and I got out of bed and said, “WHAT?!” And my life just flashed before my eyes. All I could think about was me being that kid and watching my first animated film and wanting to do that. My grandparents, my parents – everyone who supported me – teachers, friends, colleagues – everyone who was a part of my journey. I was thinking about them all at once. It’s a crazy summation emotion that boils up inside you. And I never experienced anything like it. It was incredible.’

JM: Andrew, it seems like you’ve got your speech already. So all three of you worked on several Disney animated movies, including “Zootopia”, “Moana” and “Big Hero 6”. When did you all decide you wanted to team up? And Shaofu, when did you decide on creating Taiko Studios?

Shaofu Zhang: So it all started when I basically found out there was this entrepreneur start-up contest in Silicon Valley and behind it, it was backed up by a Chinese investment fund. I always had this idea of wanting to start my own studio and doing something different and breaking out of the shell of the studio system. At that time, I was seeing the writing on the wall and the winds changing of China becoming this emerging market. So my idea – my pitch – was to bridge east and west together through animation – and taking all the things I learned from Disney and Sony (my experiences) – and bringing them to an international market.

So I pitched that initially – flew out to Palo Alto to a dingy little Sheraton. There were maybe 50 people in the whole room. Made it to the Top 10. And then flew out to Hangzhou, China where at that point I realized the contest actually led-up to a nationally televised “Shark Tank” event that was broadcast to hundreds of millions of people. It made me really nervous. There were all these… investors in the audience. I had to brush up on my Mandarin and my public speaking skills. And at that point, it was a whirlwind tour of investors. We got our initial round of founding.

And around that time, I thought, “what’s the initial dream team?” And I thought of Andrew and Bobby, who I worked with closely on “Big Hero 6” and “Zootopia” and “Moana”. And I thought, “Wow – this would be an amazing opportunity if we could work together.” Fortunately enough, they were as crazy as I was, and our first project was “One Small Step”.

JM: This short is about Luna, a girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. One of your mission statements at Taiko Studios is to make things that are “universal”. How would you say “One Small Step” has universal appeal?

BP: Our way into the story was chasing after our dreams – and that dream was to become an animator and make a living as an artist, which is crazy if you think about it. But we all had that dream early on and when we finally got to a place where we could say, “Hey – I’m an animator” or “Hey – I’m a Disney animator”, the first thing we thought about was the people that supported us along the way. And you can’t help but think that when you get there. So yes, we wanted to tell a story about chasing your dreams. But we also wanted to shine a spotlight on the people that support you along the way.

JM: The script is very thorough, especially considering the short is only 7 minutes. And it’s about potentially going to the Moon. You all have an interest in animation, and so do I, but I also love movies about space and going to the Moon. Andrew, for you, when did your love of the Moon and space begin?

AC: Oh, gosh. Specifically the Moon and space: since I was a little kid. I grew up with parents who told me all about growing up in the 60s and seeing the Moon Landing. And my dad’s descriptions of it were very vivid. And I just remember thinking – how proud people must’ve felt when that moment happened: the kind of communal, human race pride of putting a person on the Moon. It was such a universal accomplishment. And we wanted to capture that feeling in our story.

JM: Another Academy Award nominated movie this year is “First Man”, which like “One Small Step”, has incredible visuals and a great story about getting to the Moon. Do you guys look at movies like “First Man”, “Gravity”, “Interstellar” and “The Martian” as visual inspiration – or do you literally look at the stars?

AC: I didn’t even know about “First Man” until we were pretty much done with “One Small Step”. But we did go back and look at the original Moon Landing footage and other movies like “Contact” and “Apollo 13” that had tread this territory before. And we thought, “Well what do we want to do differently with this one?” First of all, it’s animation. And second of all, it’s a Chinese American family. And what would that girl’s upbringing be if she was pursuing this dream? So we tried to make it specific to our own experiences and what we wanted to see differently in an animated film – but we absolutely looked at the source material and love all the movies you mentioned.

SZ: I just have to admit that… at the founding of the company, I was always a huge “Star Trek” nerd. I love how aspirational that show is and how it was about the positive achievements that mankind could goal toward. That was partly the inspiration for the name of the studio, Taiko, because Taikonaut means a Chinese astronaut in English.

JM: And in the credits of “One Small Step”, you thank NASA, SPACEX and the California Science Center. Did they specifically assist on “One Small Step” in terms of production or look?

AC: We actually went to the California Science Center and watched a documentary about the International Space Station. A lot of the qualities the astronauts had on display: talking about their differences and what it felt like to look back at the Earth… and what kind of person you needed to be to succeed as an astronaut and co-exist up on the Space Station with other humans. That was very enlightening for… “What kind of person does Luna need to be at the end of our short to have those qualities? What kind of lessons does she need to learn? And what kind of things would she need to overcome personally, on a human level?”

And as far as the entities of SPACEX and NASA: we used some public domain NASA audio for the rocket launch at the beginning of the film. It’s actually the original 1969 rocket launch that went to the Moon. And then for SPACEX, we were looking at some references for “How are they designing their hardware and technology now? And what is their world view as a company?” Because that’s something we also share.

JM: The music, from Steve Horner, is excellent. What were you looking for from Steve to give you that dramatic, yet human kind of music?

BP: Andrew and I talked early on about how… visuals and music played a part in a lot of animation early on. And why doesn’t that really happen nowadays? We want to go back to that space where the music and the visuals complement each other – and play off of each other. Andrew worked with Steve Horner back in Minnesota at MAKE Studios. He came in and totally got the vision we were trying to put onto the screen.

JM: So I watched “One Small Step” on a laptop. But I can’t wait for people to see this on the big screen as part of the “Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films” presentation that opens in select theaters this weekend. How do you feel about audiences all over the country getting to experience this on the big screen?

SZ: It’s been kind of unreal to be able to soak in all the comments and praise and seeing how all the different audiences react. It’s really that genuine connection people have to it, especially from women, and even more especially Asian American women, that have come to us. And I feel like those are some of the most compelling pieces of feedback that we’ve gotten. They’re saying, “Wow. It’s so amazing that you’ve created this short film that has a female protagonist. And she’s aspirational. And she has a dream – and then she goes and gets it, despite all the odds.” It’s just been so heartwarming to us that we’ve been able to reach these people and make people feel something deep inside them, which was one of our hopes and dreams. But to realize and actualize it has been so meaningful to us.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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