by Joseph McCabe

Animation Supervisor Kenn McDonald is responsible for much of the digital animation on display in Beowulf (as well as director Robert Zemeckis? previous CGI film, The Polar Express). We caught up with McDonald at last weekend?s Wondercon, and asked him about the expanded cut of the film that just became available on DVD. In the following interview, he explains how the new footage was omitted from the theatrical release because of its graphic nature, and he hinted at what his next animation project might be?

What was the biggest challenge you faced in working on Beowulf?

It was really getting the subtlety of the human characters. Grendel and the dragon were a bunch of fun. We did a lot of key frame animation on them, and the animators really had a chance to cut loose with those characters. But the real challenge was getting the subtleties, the little details that really make a performance?like say Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar?really come across. It was particularly interesting [with Beowulf] because Beowulf doesn?t look very much like Ray [Winstone]. He has a chiseled square jaw and high cheekbones, a six-foot-six superhero character, and Ray?s five-eleven, a little bit chubby, round-faced. So it was really interesting to try to interpret what Ray did. We shot a lot of video reference on set, so for every shot we had a good piece of high-definition video that showed us what Ray did for that. Then the animators would take a look at that. They would take a look at what the motion capture had given us for his performance, and then they?d go in and start animating over the top to find those subtleties and nuances. And with Beowulf we were interpreting Ray?s performance?trying to figure out Ray?s squint. When Ray raises his eyebrow, what does that look like on Beowulf? That was the biggest challenge.

The DVD has some footage that wasn?t in the theatrical release.

A lot of it is basically rough motion-capture integration with versions of some scenes and sequences that were cut from the movie early in production. So there?s no finished animation in there. There?s no textures or lighting. The color in it is very rough. It?s pretty raw motion capture. But you still get a very good sense of what those sequences were like.

Was some of this footage too graphic for the original cut?

Sure. There are some scenes in the movie that are in the director?s cut, that are fully animated, we fully finished them. A lot of it was during the Grendel attacks at the beginning of the movie--when he?s tearing people in half and he?s drinking their blood. There?s a lot of stuff we did and was finished, and it had to be trimmed for the theatrical version. But it?s all back in there now. It?s some pretty, gruesome, graphic stuff.

On DVD, the film is presented in 2D, as opposed the 3D of the theatrical release. Seeing it this way, do you think viewers will have a greater appreciation for the animation?

I think so. The 3-D is such an overwhelming aspect of the theatrical release. So maybe people, when they watch it in 2-D, they?ll take a little more time and be able to appreciate the details and the subtleties and the nuances that were put into the characters.

Can you comment on what your next project might be?

It?s top secret. I wish I could talk about it. It?s a really, really cool project, but it hasn?t been announced yet. When it?s announced, I think people are going to go a little nuts, especially comic-book people!

To hear Kenn McDonald?s comments on the Beowulf DVD, be sure to catch our exclusive video overview of movie news from Wondercon 2008.

And be sure to read our review of the Beowulf DVD!