DreamWorks Animation is opening two new animated movies in theaters over a five-week period. Sequel The Boss Baby: Family Business debuts on July 2nd. But first up – this Friday June 4th – is Spirit Untamed. Director Elaine Bogan re-imagines the popular Netflix Spirit: Riding Free TV series with this epic and heartwarming feature. She discusses her love of horses, working with Oscar nominated star Jake Gyllenhaal, and the influence of late Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron director Kelly Asbury.

Jackson Murphy: I have this memory of when I was about four or five at a summer camp looking at the TV they had outside under the cabana and seeing the first Spirit movie, Stallion of the Cimarron. What is your first memory of seeing that film?

Elaine Bogan: It might be a little similar. I think I actually… when I first saw that movie… I was in my dad’s Thunderbird at a drive-in theater sitting with the car turned around backwards. And I was sitting in the trunk, with the trunk laid open with my legs hanging over the side watching the movie outside.

JM: That’s awesome. I do voice work for two Drive-Ins here in Upstate NY that have been around for more than 60 years. And I can’t wait for them to have Spirit Untamed because families are gonna go to this and love it.

EB: A drive-in theater would be the perfect place to watch this movie because it will feel like you’re right outside in the wilderness with the girls galloping around.

JM: That’s right. And it’s got epic and fun moments. This is a reimagining and an expansion of the origin story from the Spirit: Riding Free TV series on Netflix that’s been very successful for the past few years. What were your ultimate goals with this new interpretation of the story?

EB: I guess some of our biggest goals were creating a story that both felt believably related to the already existing Spirit world but that would bring something new and big and cinematic with scope enough for the big screen – and exciting enough that would relate to existing Spirit fans but also newcomers.

JM: It is big. I did watch it at home, but you’re gonna get that on the big screen.

EB: I can’t wait to get back to a theater!

JM: I just went on Mother’s Day to see In the Heights, and that was the first time I had been in an indoor theater in about eight months.

EB: Amazing.

JM: What’s really cool is that with this film, you work with the series creator of Spirit: Riding Free, Aury Wallington. DId you feel like it was unique for her and you to go back into this world? It’s not often that somebody gets a second chance to kind of dive into something and expand it.

EB: Yeah. For me… it was extremely important that we had her voice attached to the project, especially at such an early stage. I wasn’t involved in the making of the first film or the TV series. So I really wanted to service the fans because there are so many of them – and tell a story that they could buy into and believe that it came from the same heart. That’s what Aury brought for us. She brought all the relatable characters and the authenticity and themes of friendship and adventure and being who you are. These are all really great things that we wanted to bring from the TV series and deeply infuse into the development of our story. Working with Aury… I don’t think we could’ve done it without her.

JM: The themes are so special. And what really impresses me are our three main characters, Lucky, Abigail and Pru. They’re so likable. They’re instantly likable. What a great team they are. How did you and when did you fall in love with these girls?

EB: Oh, from the very beginning! What is awesome about the journey that these three girls go on is… it becomes something unique watching a cast of three young women all setting out on a goal that seems impossible and wanting it, in the deepest of their hearts, to be successful. But they all get there because they’re working together as a team. They’re not competing to get there first or before the other one. They’re all helping each other succeed. We need more stories about women supporting women. Even stories about women told by women. It was imperative to us that because we were telling this story about empowering young women to achieve the impossible, we try to recreate that on our own cast and crew in order to be able to tell a very authentic feeling story that would reach a lot of audience members. Especially through the diverse cast of characters we have… hopefully it just broadens out and every person in that audience can deeply, deeply connect to at least one person on that screen.

JM: They’re absolutely going to identify with someone. You’ve got Jake Gyllenhaal in the cast. Jake Gyllenhaal is one of those actors who’s fascinating to watch – in every single movie he’s in. Even behind the scenes in talking about how he gets into a character. Was he fascinating… to watch and dissect how he delivers lines like, “I am the train”? I feel like him delivering that line was quite something.

EB: Absolutely. From the beginning with the very first recording session with Jake… because we were bringing in all these extremely high caliber actors, we hired them because they’re who they are, and they’re brilliant at what they do. Initially when we first started having recording sessions, we allowed them to bring every weird, awesome, funny, sad idea they had to the table. And they started shaping their characters and the scenes with us. The story became something that was a part of everybody. It wasn’t just lines on a page that they would come in and read. They came in and created these characters in the room.

I wish I could show you the lipstick camera of Jake reading the “I am the train” line. I think we ended-up with something like 50 takes of that one little line. And it took us a very long time to choose which one was our favorite. I don’t know how many different ways someone can say, “I am the train.” But there were 50 different ways that day. It was amazing!

JM: Elaine, you gotta find that video and put it on Twitter because it will… go viral instantly.

EB: (laughs) I’m sure it would.

JM: Yes, everybody wants to see Jake Gyllenhaal do that. In looking at the closing credits of the film, a couple things stand out to me. Number one is that you work with the L.A. Equestrian Center and the West Coast Equine. I’m sure to get the horse details just right, a lot of research went into that.

EB: Yes, absolutely. Right when we started production, I was adamant about bringing all my story artists and all the animators over to the L.A. Equestrian Center. I’ve been an equestrian since I was a really young kid. So there’s a lot of life experience that I was so excited to… try and infuse into the relationship between Lucky and Spirit. I’ve always tried, but trying to communicate to someone and tell somebody what it’s like to finally form a bond with a 1,200 pound creature who doesn’t speak your language and could probably just shove you around if he wanted to… to form a bond like that, I can’t describe it in words. So the only way I knew how is to bring them all with me and have them see a glimpse of that interaction. The reason that was so important to me is that you can’t tell a story if it doesn’t feel authentic. To be able to give that to somebody who was gonna be able to create this movie was really imperative.

JM: Years and years of experience in that field really paying off. One of the other things I noticed is the dedication in the film to Kelly Asbury. I interviewed Kelly twice for Smurfs: The Lost Village and UglyDolls. I really enjoyed chatting with him. He was so passionate about the world of animation. What did Kelly Asbury mean to you?

EB: I’ve been at DreamWorks for… you know… I don’t wanna tell you how long. A long time! (laughs) So when I first started, Kelly was one of the mentors I sort of latched onto. Kelly was my coach in learning how to pitch a scene. For me, pitching a scene at that time in front of a room full of 20 people, was a living nightmare. Kelly just had such an incredible nurturing side to him that made you wanna try anything, even though you were completely terrified… because he had that confidence himself. Him passing away part of the way through our production meant a lot to a lot of people. It was important to us that we represented and paid homage to him because he was such a massive part of the beginning of the Spirit world.

JM: Yeah. He made so many great animated films and had such warmth and passion. Glad he had such an influence on you and the DreamWorks family. This is your feature directorial debut. A big DreamWorks animated movie! Universal’s putting out in theaters nationwide, with a well-known brand of Spirit! What surprised you the most about taking on a feature film?

EB: It was so incredibly exciting. I was really happy to be able to utilize a lot of the experience I had collected directing in TV. But I don’t think anything necessarily prepares you for the scope and the scale of taking on a feature film. When I learned I was being paired-up with my producer, Karen Foster, I knew I was gonna be okay because Karen was actually the very first producer I worked on an actual production with at DreamWorks as a story artist trainee. It feels like I’ve come full circle. She and I have gone through this cycle where now we’re creating this story together, and it was a really amazing experience. We walked into the Spirit Untamed production knowing the challenges we were up against, but we didn’t really because months in, quarantine hit and we were all sent home. We all thought we knew what we were doing at the beginning but part way through, we had to problem solve and work through the challenges of… “How do people make a feature film from home?” We were driving the plane as we were building it, so to speak.

JM: You very much made it happen. In terms of the animation itself, you play a lot with light and shadow. There’s a scene with shadows and the three girls. And there’s also this gorgeous moment with Lucky and Spirit riding atop this certain area towards the end of the film – and it’s in the trailer as well. How did you enjoy working with light and shadows and putting those specific moments together?

EB: It was a big goal of mine, upfront, as the visual director of the film to utilize every single element of the film to tell a story. Not just by the characters walking around saying things to tell the story but by the use of the evolution of color to follow Lucky’s emotional journey or the evolution of design. From going from grampa’s cold, straight, vertical, horizontal mansion into the organic, curving, warm designs of being out in the wild. Light and shadow did also play a very big role. Our production designer [Paul Duncan] just dove in. When I gave him the challenge: “I’ll be over here in this element telling this story. Now you do the same in your own voice”… he just loved the creativity of that. When I watch the movie – every single scene speaks to one of the crew members having a creative part in telling our story. It’s a great feeling.

JM: And you’re right about the curves because there’s that sweeping shot of the main street of the town. I really like that. I’m always a sucker for the old-fashioned town.

EB: Me too.

JM: That must’ve been a cool shot to do as well.

EB: Yeah! That was probably one of the most difficult ones. I think it’s the longest shot in our movie, if not the second longest. As you know, in CG animation you tend to want to keep the shots a little shorter for technical reasons. But that one was one we felt really strongly about because there are parts in the movie [where] we really wanted to evoke that sense of being out there in the west and the wild and a chance to calm down and be still and watch the environments unfold. That became a little bit of a voice in the movie too, in terms of style.

JM: You talked a little bit earlier that this movie is going to inspire people of all ages. I think this movie could really inspire young girls to get into animation and get into directing animated films. Has that sunk in yet that, as much as Kelly Asbury was an inspiration to you, you’re gonna be an inspiration to so many, especially young girls, with animation?

EB: I am so, so excited to be a part of that… if it inspires one young person to get out there and do what they wanna do, I’m so proud. Stories about women told by women are important. And it was a big goal for us that because we were out there telling this story about three young women supporting each other to achieve the impossible, it was so important to us that we at least try to be authentic and re-create that environment on our own cast and crew behind the scenes. And by way of doing that, hopefully we’ve created a story that’s a lot more visually and emotionally authentic and reaches the audience in that way.

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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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