Critics’ Choice Awards

Before we dive into Puss, we have to make a quick stop at the Critics’ Choice Awards, which aired last Sunday on the CW. According to our Hollywood insider Brian Formo, this particular awards show took place earlier in the season than ever before. “This is likely because the organization views the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and their Golden Globes as vulnerable, and they wanted to steal some of that thunder by proving to be a larger influence than the HFPA on next week’s Oscar nominations,” he explains.

Yep, the awards politicking is in full swing, further evidenced by all the consistently incredible acceptance speeches at the Critics’ Choice event. “This time of year is when showing up and giving a great speech really matters,” Brian explains. “It’s right before Academy nominations are due and compelling words can move someone up a ballot. And even after the Oscar nominations land next week, the speeches still matter because they’re a path to convincing voters that they’re a humble and gracious choice. The Academy wants to give it to someone who will appreciate it.

“For certain categories that didn’t get airtime at the CCAs, where wins including best adapted screenplay for Women Talking and best comedy for Glass Onion were announced via text on screen, this is a bit of a hindrance for folks like Sarah Polley and Rian Johnson, because they didn’t get to appeal to voters who weren’t in the room.” But victorious directing duo the Daniels did get airtime for winning best director and film for Everything Everywhere All at Once (which also scooped up original screenplay, editing and supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan), and shrewdly pumped Michelle Yeoh up during their acceptance speeches.

As did Cate Blanchett, implicitly, when she won best actress for her titular role in TÁR: “Thank you, and thank you to all my fellow nominees,” she said. “I would love it if we would just change the whole fucking structure... Why don’t we just say there is a whole raft of female performances that are in concert and dialogue with one another and stop the televised horse race of it all! Because I can tell you every single woman with a television, film, advertising, tampon commercial, whatever—you’re all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually, so thank you. I share this with you all.”

For the rest of the nominees and winners, check out Léo Barbosa’s 28th Critics’ Choice Awards (2022/2023) list.

Animation Spotlight — Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

At the time of publication, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish had clawed his way to number 125 in Letterboxd’s Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films of all time. We already knew our fearless hero had made our 2022 Highest Rated Films, muscling out heavy hitters like Top Gun: Maverick and TÁR, but now this little cat is outclassing Casablanca (#143) and Citizen Kane (#249). We spoke with director Joel Crawford about Puss’s unfathomable rise, the cinematic influence of Spaghetti Westerns and that tearjerking panic attack scene.

According to Crawford, the first scene that entered production was the bar fight between Puss and the Wolf (voiced by a bone-chilling Wagner Moura). For context: Puss has been laughing in the face of death for too long, using up eight of his nine lives. When Death in the form of a red-eyed Wolf arrives to challenge him—introduced by a whistled tune ala Once Upon a Time in the West—the ensuing scuffle leaves Puss with a cut: he bleeds. Aside from The Prince of Egypt, Crawford confirms this is the only animated DreamWorks film to feature blood.

He also emphasizes how even though the Wolf is antagonistic, he isn’t technically wrong. “Puss is the one that has the flawed point of view,” the director says. “[The Wolf] has this vendetta, rightfully so, against Puss who doesn’t appreciate life and therefore doesn’t respect death, and it turns into this samurai showdown.”

Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films turned out to be a foundational inspiration for the creative team, along with Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns (which were also influenced by Kurosawa). Specifically, Crawford cites The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as a template—Harvey Guillén’s character, a tiny dog nicknamed Perrito who attaches himself to Puss on a big adventure, is given the label ‘The Dog with No Name’ as a nod to ‘The Man with No Name’. And his character’s narrative function was inspired by the goofy rogue Kikuchiyo (Toshirô Mifune) from Seven Samurai. The dynamic between Puss and Perrito was also shaped by another Kurosawa and Mifune collaboration, Red Beard, in which an arrogant young doctor discovers the honor that comes with helping people thanks to the tutelage of his hardened mentor.

Obviously, Grimm fairy tales also served as a major blueprint, particularly in regards to the painterly production design and heavier themes. “What’s so interesting about that element of fear and this darker tone is you get a very rewarding rollercoaster ride because of it,” says Crawford. “It’s laughter, it’s joy, it’s fear, it’s sadness—it’s all these emotions that are this full spectrum of life.”

Fear specifically is depicted with care and authenticity. In a scene that’s resonating with the anxiety-inclined everywhere, Puss experiences a realistic panic attack about the prospect of death. It’s an innovative decision, one that hits even harder when you take his—at this point—nineteen-year character arc into account. “In Shrek 2 when Puss in Boots is introduced, he’s the superhero who doesn’t show this vulnerability," says Crawford. “Especially after conversations with Antonio Banderas, we were really excited to show the world another, more relatable, side.”

Crawford also shares how Florence Pugh (voice of Goldilocks) would read exactly what was in the script but make facial cues if she didn’t like a line, which he’d pick up on and suggest exploring something new and more honest. John Mulaney had valuable insights about his character Jack Horner as well: “John is so quick and smart and an amazing writer and actor,” says Crawford. “When we were pitching his character, he tapped into it right away. He was like, ‘This is a character who’s searching for this external happiness to fill this internal void, and he’s never gonna get it.’ And we wrote around that.”

This encouraged collaboration is a through-line of Puss in Boots’ production—Crawford had actually inherited this project from Bob Persichetti, the co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. As such, that landmark film’s fingerprints are all over each cel, most visibly during the dynamic fight scenes. “We didn’t wanna do anything that was just because it was cool,” Crawford laughs. “We wanted to have a story reason behind it. The journey of going to these more grounded, emotional areas inspired us to look at the different styles of animation and what their psychological effects are.

“Traditional CG animation is 24 frames a second. Everything is smooth; it’s like our reality, grounded. Then there’s the traditional way with hand-drawn 2D animation,” he explains. Because drawing by hand was (and is) so laborious, it was more economical for artists to hold each pose for two frames rather than just one.

“Instead of 24 frames a second, you could end up with something that’s 12 frames a second,” he continues. “What happens is you actually see the poses—your eye catches them a little longer than if it was just smooth. It feels fantastical. It’s done in anime a lot, where things will be held for two frames, three frames, four frames, where you get a different feel… So using that as a tool throughout the whole movie, it’s this back and forth of traditional 2D and CG techniques that really form the emotional journey for the audience.”

To hear more of our conversation, listen to the full Best in Show episode.

Coming Soon…

Up next: the BAFTA nominations are announced at 12 noon GMT today (January 19), and then Academy Awards nominations on January 24. For our UK members, the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award voting is already open to the public, and you can vote for any of these breakthrough performers: Aimee Lou Wood (Living), Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), Emma Mackey (Emily), Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody) and Sheila Atim (The Woman King). 

Coming up on the pod, we’ve got chats with TÁR and Women Talking composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Elvis costume designer Catherine Martin and Blonde hair & makeup artists Jaime Leigh McIntosh and Tina Roesler Kerwin.