Entry 01 - Cindi Rice, Co-Executive Producer (Part 2)

Why choose George Strayton and/or Will Meugniot?

I suppose I'm the best one to answer that as well, since I originally picked them both. I'll start with George. I wanted George to write the Dragonlance adaptation for many different reasons. First, he's an extremely talented screenwriter, and I think he has a particular knack for both action and subtlety. Second, he writes for both the gaming and entertainment industries, so he is completely up-to-date on the materials (which has been a real problem in other adaptation attempts I've worked on, where writers who didn't understand the underlying game elements of the franchise got the plotline right, but completely missed the mark on the details like spells and classes). Third, he is a HUGE fan of Dragonlance, and he idolizes Margaret & Tracy, so I knew he'd do everything he could to stay true to their vision instead of trying to "fix" or "improve" upon it. Fourth, he's someone I trust, and I didn't want to put this franchise into the hands of a stranger. I think he was totally the right decision, and the whole team (including Margaret & Tracy) has been thrilled with him at every step of the way. Now, over to Will. I know you can't possibly tell simply from a bio or from a list of credits, but Will Meugniot is one of the most amazing and experienced animation people in the entire industry. He's worked on almost everything, either as a designer, an artist, a producer, a director, or even just a consultant. He's experienced, respected, and brilliant, and he's especially proficient at working on existing franchises, which is a very difficult skill. Remember, the job of a director is to create a unique vision for a movie and guide the team toward that goal. On an existing property, however, you want someone who understands how to hone in on the vision that already exists and find a way to express it as honestly and sincerely as possible. That's something that very few directors do well. Most importantly, Will is also a dedicated fanboy, and he knows what it's like to see the stories he loves mutilated by terrible films. Anyway, Will has been an amazing asset to the project, and we're very lucky to have him.

What is the style/tone of this movie?

This is a movie targeted at Dragonlance fans, so it's generally for college age and up. Still, there's not a lot that happens in the Chronicles stories that isn't appropriate for the younger audience, and we didn't want to shoehorn those things in just to ensure a more "adult" rating. The books don't really have much in the way of nudity, cursing, or sex, and the violence isn't particularly gruesome or detailed (though there are a few intense scenes, which we're not shying away from). We're really just doing our best to approach everything in the film from an adult sensibility and think about the story and characters in a mature way. As for the art, we're trying to remain true to the original Elmore and Easley Dragonlance style, but with a slightly updated sensibility, much like the comic books did. The animation itself will be a hybrid of 2D and 3D - most of the characters will be 2D, while the dragons and creatures will be 3D, and the environments will be mixes of 3D and multi-planed 2D layers. On top of that, Will is working very hard on some pretty complicated camera moves, lots of detailed character nuance, and carefully planned environmental and lighting effects. Believe me, we have no intention of making a childish or simplistic film. We intend to use every resource at our disposal to convey the complexity and depth that Dragonlance has to offer.

Is it a trilogy?

We hope so! We went into this with the plan to do the Chronicles, though of course, I'm sure our financiers won't greenlight the second one until we see how the first one does. Also, with the release of the Lost Chronicles, we're still discussing with Margaret and Tracy what the next story should be. Should we go next to Winter Night? Or to Dwarven Depths? What do you guys think?

Well, that's all I can think of for the moment, but we'll try to put more updates here on the site regularly. And keep posting your suggestions. We're listening!

Thanks!
Cindi Rice

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